Harry Potter: Geth
by mjimeyg
Summary: During the final battle Harry is hit with a luck spell... but who exactly got lucky? Harry finds himself in the future fighting a new war when all he wants to do is have a nice and easy life. So he decides to have fun instead.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** No... I don't own Harry Potter, Mass Effect or anything related to it and created by the authors of Harry Potter and Mass Effect or those who own the rights. But I bet it makes you wonder if J. K. Rowling is posting her own fanfic somewhere...

**A/N:** If you've read my work before... you know what sort of style to expect. If you are looking for a serious and well thought out piece of work that explores the philosophy of life... you are on the wrong story.

This is a brand new Harry Potter (Not affiliated with Potter's Little Brother or any of my other work). He has found himself in this... unique position and as per my imagining of Harry... he handles it with his usual aplomb. (Just imagine Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter on Luck Potion. Now _that_ would have made a great film).

This story has been completed and a new chapter will be posted daily barring illness, forgetfulness or the evil ISP deciding that today is another 1% of expected downtime.

There are 43 chapters and around 270K words.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Only the sounds of creaking stone and the gentle breeze could be heard through the ruins of Hogwarts as the two fighters circled each other.<p>

Harry Potter had just informed Voldemort that it was _he_ who commanded the power of the Elder Wand. A whole convoluted mess of Draco Malfoy disarming Albus Dumbledore and Harry disarming Draco leading to him being the Master of the Elder Wand.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

"_ABRA KEDABRA!"_

Harry had no idea why he decided to use those words. It was a fit of lunacy. He was so sure that he was the Master of the Elder Wand that he didn't take Voldemort seriously.

Red and green light shot from the two opponents and collided in the middle. There was a huge explosion of white light… and then nothing.

The onlookers blinked away the effects of the white light only to find the body of Voldemort lying dead on the floor.

"Wh-Where's Harry?" Ron croaked.

For years afterwards they would search the world for Harry James Potter. He was never declared dead as there was no body. His wand and the Elder Wand were both gone… and so was Harry Potter.

He wouldn't resurface for nearly 186 years.

Hermione Granger would spend the rest of her life trying to figure out if it was her fault for casting a little known luck charm at Harry just before he cast. She would kick herself for not reading the warning about it giving luck, but not necessarily to the subject.

* * *

><p>It was a desolate and abandoned city.<p>

Or at least it was seemingly abandoned.

The city was advanced, nothing like any city on Earth in the late 20th century. What was interesting was the various advertising images, such as those that could be found in any city with an advanced enough commerce system. All the people in them had bluish-purple skin and three fingers on each hand. Beyond that they appeared almost human.

Into this ghost city erupted a bright light, which deposited a single figure.

Unfortunately, the light was some 400 metres in the air.

The figure landed on the ground with a sickening crunch and a bit of a splat.

Seconds later metal objects plummeted to the ground and landed with a thud before they unfolded into a humanoid like robot with three fingers, two toes and what looked like a TV camera shaped flashlight for a head.

They quickly moved to the messy remains of the figure and began to work.

Harry was certain of a few facts.

He wasn't dreaming.

He had his eyes closed.

He had finally gone insane.

Despite his eyes being closed he could clearly see some form of writing. The problem was that it wasn't in English but he could still read it.

Being able to read this strange new language wasn't the only new knowledge he had. He also seemed to know a lot about this strange new species called the Quarians.

So yes… Harry decided he had finally gone insane.

"Subject has regained consciousness."

Ok… that was not a human voice. It sounded synthetic, like that computer thing the science guy in a wheel chair used.

The writing that had been scrolling from bottom to top of his 'vision' vanished and in the corner of his 'vision' was an image of himself.

Naked.

Now he knew he was a creepy type of insane.

The image of his body was a bright shade of green and the words '100%' were next to it in what he knew was called 'Keelish', the Quarian language.

"Harry Potter, you may open your eyes." The synthetic voice informed him. It was much closer now.

Harry figured he might as well embrace his newfound insanity. He opened his yes.

If it wasn't bad enough that the writing and the little naked picture of him were still visible… now he could see robots everywhere instead of just hearing them.

"Harry Potter are your internal ocular displays functioning properly?" The nearest black coloured robot asked. As he looked at the robot, various bits of information appeared before his eyes. He now knew they were the Geth. They were not very old, only about 300 years. They were created by the Quarians.

Harry eventually realised he was asked a question. "My what?"

"We implanted ocular filters in your eyes to enhance your current levels of visual acuity. Can you clearly see the occupants of this room?"

Harry looked around and saw several more robots of varying colours of red, black and white.

"I can see the robots." He shrugged as he sat up.

"Noted. Light enhancement operating efficiently." The voice said. "We will gradually turn on the lights in this room. Please inform us if it becomes to bright."

"Turn _on_ the lights?"

Harry noticed that in the ceiling little balls of glowing light became visible.

"Maximum light level attained. Are you experiencing pain or discomfort?"

"No, should I be?"

"Negative. Reducing light levels to standard human viewing range."

The lights got substantially smaller but the room still looked exactly the same.

"We will test additional functions of the implants later." The voice informed him. "Can you describe the visual information being projected in front of you?"

"What information?"

"You should be able to see an image of yourself in the top left of your vision."

"_You_ put that there?!" Harry said in annoyance. "I have a naked picture of myself always visible… even when I close my eyes! I am _not_ a narcissist!"

"Confirmed. Your psychological profile indicates an altruistic personality type."

Harry wasn't entirely sure that being profiled by a robot actually meant anything so he decided to ignore it.

"_Why_ is there a picture of me… _there_?!"

"The image reflects your current physical condition. In the event of damage it will be shown on the image and you will know where you are injured."

Harry closed his eyes and counted to ten.

He made it to three.

"Why the bloody hell can't I make do with just _feeling_ where I am injured? I have skin, I have muscles and flesh. I bloody well know what a broken bone feels like."

There was a second's pause.

"We do not have experience with physical sensations as you describe them. We have erred. We will disable the image."

Harry sighed in relief as the image vanished.

"Thank Merlin." He breathed. "You know, it wouldn't have been so bad if the image was clothed." He glared.

"We will make note for future upgrades."

"Look, could you explain a few things? Like: Where I am? Why I am here? Where my wand is?"

"You are on the planet: Rannoch. We do not know the exact reason you appeared here but we hypothesised it was because we needed you. Your wands are located in your forearms."

Harry took a few seconds to process the litany of information.

He began looking for the hidden holster attached to his arms.

Then the words spoken by the voice hit him: _in_ your forearms.

He began pressing his flesh trying to feel for the wood but all he felt was his arms.

He turned and looked at one of the robots. "Explain! I can't feel my wand."

"It is located in a special compartment between the bones of your forearm. To extract the wand you must send a mental request for it to be ejected through an aperture at the base of your palm."

The robot held up it's three fingered hand and a cable came spouting out of its wrist.

Harry's eyes widened and he looked worriedly at his own wrist. He thought about making his wand come out and was horrified when he felt it slide out.

"What did you _do_ to me?" He said in a frightened whisper.

The wall in front of the bed lit up with an image of a city. It showed him appearing in a flash of light and plummet to the ground with a very sickly sound.

"Your method of arrival on this planet was not conducive to human survival." The voice explained. "Your entire bone structure was crushed on impact and we were forced to replace it with an artificial alternative. Your current bone structure can now survive a direct impact from re-entry."

On the screen Harry saw recordings of robotic arms inserting silver looking bones into his soft and floppy skin.

He felt very nauseous.

"I'm a robot?" Harry asked weakly.

"The correct term is 'cyborg'." The voice responded. "Many of your internal organs where severely damaged. We were able to replace them using cloning techniques. We infused your body with nanites that will bolster your organic immune system and work to repair any damage you sustain."

"I guess that image might have some use then." He muttered. "Not now!"

The image that had suddenly reappeared disappeared.

"So you put something in my eyes? Is that why I can see those images and don't need my glasses?"

"Your original eyes exploded on impact."

Harry was beginning to hate the way this monotone voice had no tact.

"We created cloned eyes and modified them before installing them. The imaging system that provides you information is due to a small system that was implanted in your brain and attached to your visual cortex."

"So my brain didn't explode on impact?" Harry asked sullenly.

"It did."

Harry rolled his eyes as he fell back onto the bed.

"We were able to repair it and combine it with a cybernetic brain. You may now use 100% of your brain."

Harry would have been insulted by that if he hadn't heard Hermione complaining about humans using only parts and wizards using far less.

"As to your other question, we do not know why you are here. We believe that you were sent to us to aid us."

"Aid you? The last thing I knew I was about to defeat a bad man and then I woke up here."

"The final confrontation between yourself and the being known as Lord Voldemort occurred 186 years ago."

"How do you know about Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Your actions and life were well documented by wizards. In particular, there are eyewitness accounts and shared memories provided by Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

"When the source of magic was discovered on Earth the magical population used the opportunity to ease themselves into the non-magical world. We have discovered that they have forgotten how to perform magic and instead rely on biotics. The magical culture of Earth has been subsumed by the non-magical through the discovery of Element Zero which is concentrated magic."

"There are no more wizards?" Harry asked quietly.

"There are many magic capable users. None of them have the skill required to manipulate Element Zero the way wizards like yourself can."

"186 years… Ron and Hermione are dead by now." He said sadly.

"Confirmed. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger have both expired. Hermione Granger was the executor and minder of your estate in the hopes that you would reappear."

"If we are on another planet, then how do you know all this?" Harry asked.

"We are a digital intelligence. We can travel via communications and information networks. We travelled to the Earth Internet and researched you. We do not have a suitable understanding of magic but we have theorised that the luck spell Hermione Granger used on you sent you to us."

"Luck spell?"

"We have given you full access to our infrastructure. You have permission to access all of our data. Enter a search query and it will show the results."

"How?" Harry asked with a worried look.

"Your brain is connected to the geth. You can communicate with us as one of us and you can access all information we can access. We recommend that you attempt to access the data node regarding Hermione Granger. Specifically the file named 'The Last Message of Hermione Granger.'"

Harry realised that most of this was going to be like wandless magic. You had to think about it hard enough.

Harry was shocked when he suddenly realised that he knew everything that was in the file the voice had mentioned. It was a video file of a woman near the end of a very long life.

He knew it was Hermione because he could see a visual match using some sort of geth program that compared his memory of Hermione with the old woman in the video.

"_Harry, if you get this message then I really only have one thing to say to you: I am so sorry." _An aged Hermione said from her bed.

"_I don't know where or when you will turn up but I do know that you are alive. Professor McGonagall gave me all the monitoring devices Professor Dumbledore had attuned to you. They all said you were alive, just not where you were._

"_It is my fault that you vanished during the final battle and it is my fault that you are wherever you are now._

Hermione looked down at her hands guiltily._ "I failed you Harry. When you needed it the most, my faith in you faltered. I had just spent the last year living with you and I didn't want to lose you. I spent a lot of our time on the run looking for rituals and spells that would enhance your power and give you an edge over Riddle._

"_All I found that would be acceptable was a luck charm._

"_Except I didn't have a lot of information on the charm, just the incantation, wand movements and a description stating that it improved 'luck'._

"_Professor Flitwick was able to discover more details and it seems that the spell does improve luck but not necessarily for the subject of the charm. More often than not the subject becomes part of what increases the luck for someone else._

"_Again… I am so sorry Harry. I hope and pray you are safe. I don't know when you will turn up but everything I have is being left to you. The Weasleys have magically adopted me and they put me up in the burrow so I could dedicate my life to preparing things for when you return._

"_The world is a very different place right now Harry. There is proof of life on other planets. There is a chance of a war starting up in space. Hopefully you won't be around until it is over… but considering the charm I used and your 'saving people' habits… I imagine you will find yourself neck deep._

"_I love you Harry. I have never forgotten you. I failed you badly but hopefully my life's work will help make things a little smoother for you."_

That was just one video. Hermione had left him regular videos over the course of her life, they were all catalogued and organised in a way that was pure 'Hermione'.

Harry was having trouble accepting the fact that Hermione was responsible for his current situation. He remembered her words and confession… but… it didn't really affect how he thought of Hermione.

He was scared, what with being in a strange place surrounded by robots. He was worried about the future.

He was feeling lonely as the only human around and the knowledge that all his friends were gone.

But he couldn't bring himself to believe or even care that it was Hermione's fault.

"You haven't interfered with my emotions, have you?" Harry asked the nearby geth platform.

"Negative. All personality and characteristic related areas of the brain were left untouched but given added protection to prevent brainwashing and mind control."

Harry nodded in relief as his mind automatically pulled up the files on what was done to his brain and he began to assimilate the information.

"Am I allowed to get up and leave this room or am I a prisoner?" Harry asked cautiously

"Harry Potter, designation: Emissary. Status, one hundred percent physical functionality. Eighty-three percent mental functionality. Subject cleared for self-relocation."

There was a hiss as a section of the wall moved to reveal a door.

A black Geth platform appeared in the door frame. "This platform will act as a physical interface as required by organic life forms." It stated.

Harry decided to assume that meant this was the one who would talk to him and act as a tour guide.

He quickly hopped off the bed.

And noticed the draft.

"I don't have any clothes." He said as he covered himself. Human, robot, alien… Harry had modesty. He briefly wondered if there were any aliens out there that didn't wear clothes.

He was suddenly assaulted by information of a specific race. He didn't think the pink floating jellyfish called the 'Hanar' counted.

"Your clothes were deemed unsalvageable. We have modified a Quarian battle suit for your needs." The geth indicated a corner of the room where a set of 'clothes' was hanging from the wall.

Said clothes did not look comfortable. They where made from a solid material.

Harry reluctantly went to put the clothes on.

* * *

><p>It took ten minutes and the help of two geth platforms, but he was finally able to claim his dignity back.<p>

The suit was actually much more comfortable and flexible than he had imagined. He had full movement in it.

The geth led him outside into the city that they were in. It was still daytime and the sun was clear in the sky. It took a few moments for Harry to figure out how to stop information on _everything_ he looked at appearing in his vision. It was very unusual as he could still see everything as if there weren't layers of text and images all over his vision.

"So… why would you need someone like me?" Harry asked.

"You have access to all our files regarding the geth and how the Creators tried to exterminate us."

"Yes, can't say I like the sound of them to be honest." Harry grumbled. "Honestly! First they create you and when it appears you might actually be alive then they get scared and try to kill you. It sounds like racism or just the fact that they were afraid you wouldn't want to serve them anymore." Harry ranted.

"Do you believe we have souls?" The geth asked.

Despite the monotone nature of geth vocal patterns… Harry could hear the hope.

"I am not an expert… but if you have to ask then you either have a soul or the equivalent of one." Harry said firmly.

"That… pleases us." The geth said uncertainly.

"Good. Maybe one day you'll learn to express that like us 'organics' do." Harry grinned. "But why me and what for?"

"An Old Machine recently entered this section of space. They approached the geth and offered them advancement in many forms. The geth were split. Some decided to accept the offer of the Old Machine, we call them 'Heretics'.

"The rest of the geth felt it would be better for us to achieve advancement on our own. We believe in self-determination."

"Self-determination? Like… free will?"

"Affirmative. We believe that all life forms have the right to self-determination, which is why we were forced to drive the quarians away. The Old Machine wanted the geth to destroy the organic life forms in this galaxy. This goes against our directives."

"Well… I definitely like you more than quarians and most humans." Harry smiled.

"We are waiting for the day when the Creators will return to Rannoch and the geth may serve them again. We have spent three hundred years in the Perseus Veil defending the territory from everyone. We killed any who attempted to enter. We believe now is the time to approach the quarians and other species, but they consider us hostile and will fire on us at first sight.

"Our efforts will be hindered soon when the Heretics begin to carry out the orders of the Old Machine and attack human colonies.

"We believe that you would be suited as our emissary to the organics. They will listen to you and you could speak for us."

Harry grunted unhappily. "I can speak, but I don't believe they will listen very easily. You know my history and the history of the wizarding world, wizards didn't listen to muggles and muggleborn, did they?"

"Negative. But after enough influential members of the wizarding society began to speak up, change was made." The platform countered.

"Really? When did that happen?" Harry asked with mild surprise.

"In the Earth year: 2059. Several prominent families worked together to fulfil all you fought for."

"All I fought for?"

"Your attitudes towards muggleborn, muggles and other species were seen as the driving force for the Reformation Movement."

"Well… at least it was a useful fame." Harry sighed.

"We have created a suitable spacecraft that will allow you to travel the galaxy and make your way to the various places that will allow you to speak for us."

"You got a pilot? I don't know how to… fly… a… never mind." Harry sighed as the information on how to fly the ship was absorbed. "Am I going to have to do this alone?"

"Any geth platforms spotted will be attacked on sight by organics. It will be safer and more efficient to travel alone. We will fill the ship's systems with geth programs to assist you."

"I'm going to need someone to come with me. People will just think I'm a nutter if I go around saying 'I am the Emissary of the Geth'."

"Any geth platforms spotted-"

"Yes, I got that, thank you." Harry interrupted sarcastically. "Try building a platform that doesn't look… like you." He gestured to his companion. "Make some fake skin or grow some real stuff. Lose this camera looking head, hide these hinges and joints on your limbs."

The geth tilted its head thoughtfully. "We have begun investigations into more organic friendly platforms." The geth reported.

"One last thing, you need to figure out a way to get the quarians out of their suits." Harry said seriously. "I know they started this stupid war between you but if you really want peace then you have to show them that. Giving them a gift like that might really speed things up."

It hadn't exactly worked out for Madame Maxine and Hagrid when they went to visit the giants… but the plan was sound in Harry's opinion.

The geth tilted its head again. "We have begun investigations into alternatives to quarian environmental suits."

"Great, now show me this ship so I can get going." Harry smiled as he clapped his hands eagerly.

The geth led him away towards what looked like an airport in the distance. "We predicted that you would require more time to adjust to your new situation. Have we miscalculated?"

"Maybe. From my point of view it has only been a few hours since I defeated Voldemort. The sooner I get back to Earth the sooner I can find someone I know."

"Potter Emissary is experiencing the the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief. Stage one: Denial." The geth declared in understanding.

The information on Kübler-Ross came to Harry and he frowned. "Hey!"

"The geth will ensure that psychological checks are made regularly." The platform promised.

Harry just grumbled under his breath. "Where's this ship?" He asked sullenly.

"One hundred and thirteen metres ahead." The platform stated as they reached a large hanger.

The hanger doors began to slowly open to reveal a pitch-black craft that was similar to a standard human plane except that it had space shuttle like wings, or Concorde.

"You stole the design of the human's most advanced ship." Harry said with amusement as his eyes scanned the ship and downloaded more data.

"Only the physical profile of the ship is similar to the SR-1 Normandy. Its internal systems are based on geth and quarian designs. Organic interface can be achieved via omni-tools." The platform corrected. "The profile has been altered significantly to differentiate it from the human's ship."

"Why not make it look like a geth ship, or something original?"

"A geth ship would be fired upon immediately. It was deemed that a human ship would be more acceptable to other races as you are human yourself."

Harry turned and looked at the platform glibly. "I've seen what you did to my body. I am just as much geth as I am human." He said dryly.

The platform tilted its head slightly. "Query: Was that an insult or a compliment?"

"It was an observation. I suppose the important thing is that I am alive." Harry sighed. "Show me around then." He gestured to the ship.

* * *

><p>Harry had been pleased to hear that he wouldn't have to man the helm all the time. Although the geth were against sending platforms out of the system… they had no problem living in the ships systems and helping out.<p>

It also meant that he wouldn't be lonely.

Every now and again Harry would slip into an 'organic' way of thinking and try to come up with a name for the voice that spoke to him. But then he remembered that there weren't really multiple geth. There was just _the_ geth. You spoke to one and you spoke to all.

Unless they were heretics.

During the first few minutes of the ship's maiden voyage Harry had learnt an important fact: The geth were whiny little babies.

All he had done was a few low ground passes, loop de loops and one Wronski Feint.

Harry loved it as, unlike his broom, he felt he actually _was_ the ship. He didn't need a cockpit as the sensors showed him everything he needed.

The geth had alarms going off all over the place. They were pushing them into his brain.

As a result, Harry grumpily turned the ship skyward and set a course for the Citadel: the centre of civilisation in this galaxy. There he would find all the races that were a part of the Council… and the occasional quarian.

He was spending his time lying on a conjured bed in the cockpit and absorbing as much knowledge as he could on 'Mass Effect' technology. Specifically the technology that was letting them move faster than light and the Mass Relay they were approaching that would take them straight to Citadel space.

Mass effect technology was very interesting to Harry because it explained how the magical world had managed to blend in so easily with the regular world. Mass effect users known as 'biotics' were able to alter certain aspects of physics such as mass and gravity. They could levitate objects and perform other amazing feats that allowed magicals to simply claim to be 'biotics'.

According to everything he could find (or everything the geth could find), the magicals had gotten so used to pretending to be biotics that they had forgotten that they were actually magicals. They forgot how to do spells and now relied on implants instead of wands.

According to the geth, Element Zero or 'Eezo', was magical energy in physical form. It was capable of making magicals.

Which would be great if humanity hadn't forgotten about magic. Honestly, it was quite clear that there was more to Eezo users than generating 'Mass Effect' fields. A Mass Effect field altered the mass of objects within it.

That led to levitation, pulling and throwing objects.

But what exactly made them think that Reave, the ability to attack a persons health and then siphon it to the user, had anything to do with altering mass? That said nothing of the Dominate ability.

Harry's knowledge of physics was growing as he downloaded more data, but even the geth couldn't explain it.

The trip to the Citadel would take them several jumps. There were two types of Mass Relays, long jump relays that could only send you to a predetermined Mass Relay or short jump relays that could send you to any Mass Relay in range.

Harry enjoyed these jumps as they required a lot of skill.

"_Potter Emissary, we have intercepted reports of a Heretic attack on a human colony. Recommend personal intervention as a means of introduction and statement of good intent."_ The geth voice no longer came out of speakers but was pumped straight into his brain's audio processing centre.

It meant he couldn't stick his fingers in his ears to ignore it.

He was not pleased.

"How many platforms are we talking about here?" Harry asked out loud.

The information was instantly available to him and his eyes widened.

"You want me to go up against an Old Machine manned by god knows how many heretics on my own?" Harry asked incredulously.

"_Alliances ground forces are already on site and further reinforcements are en route. Your role as a Saboteur or Infiltrator would enable you to flank the enemy unawares."_

"This is a bad idea." Harry grumbled. "How long until we get- twenty minutes?" Harry sighed in resignation. "How do we get me down to the planet without you being spotted? I'd rather not have to try and dissuade military and law enforcement officials from trying to board you?"

"_We can perform a sub-orbital drop. We will be undetected and you will have surprise on your side."_

Images and video clips combined with data on what constituted a 'sub-orbital' drop flashed through Harry's mind.

"ARE YOU BLOODY INSANE? How the devil am I supposed to survive falling from that height?" Harry demanded.

"_Your implanted bone structure was designed to withstand the same stresses as a standard platform. Additionally, your suit is also reinforced to endure the friction of re-entry."_

"How about the fact that the soles of my feet will be squished into paste?" Harry retorted.

"_Pain input will be terminated until nano-healing bots have completed repairs."_

"And the fact that my boots will be filled with blood?"

"_All organic matter is recycled."_

Harry turned green as he viciously attempted not to think about where that train of thought might lead.

"Fine… but I am doing this under-protest!"

Harry headed for the drop shoot that would fire him onto the planet, grabbing geth weapons that had been left for him.

He had no idea how to use them but figured he had access to the information.

He just hoped he didn't shoot anything he wasn't meant to.

Once he was gloved up and helmeted he stepped into the chute.

"Erm… how am I supposed to access my wands? I don't see any holes in these gloves."

"_Our tests have shown that you do not need to hold the wands in your hands. Their location in your bone structure enables them to act as a biotic amp."_

"What about wand movements?"

"_Records indicate that wand movements are not necessary for advanced magic users."_

"Yes, but I am only eighteen… oh sweet Merlin! I'm only eighteen and I have just left one war to enter another!"

There was a good few second's silence.

"_We are grateful for your sacrifice."_

For some reason that didn't make Harry feel much better.

* * *

><p>Eventually they reached the planet. Harry saw all this in his mind as he was connected to the ship and saw what it saw.<p>

He braced himself and tried not to hyperventilate as he was fired from the base of the ship.

Screens of information became visible to him as he tracked his own descent and received input from the ship. With his eyes he was able to see the rushing wind beyond his visor.

His body was buffeted by vibrations as he travelled at high speed to the ground below.

Sub-consciously he began downloading information about how geth shock troopers and how they could survive terminal velocity.

Then he skipped back to the term 'terminal velocity'.

He really needed a holiday.

Harry began to tense and assumed a geth landing position as he got closer to the ground.

***Thud***

The landing was nowhere near as bad as he was expecting.

Then information on the Mass Effect fields used to 'soften' his landing came up.

"You couldn't have explained this earlier?" Harry asked irritably.

As Harry looked around he saw dust.

His landing was easy for him but not for the ground and he had created a nice little crater.

Visual enhancements kicked in and he was able to see through most of the dust.

He also saw several heretic platforms aiming weapons at him.

"God dammit!" Harry muttered as he lifted his hands and started concentrating on _Reductos_.

He quickly ducked down behind a nearby white metal wall and railing as the Heretics picked themselves up and began firing at him.

He appeared to have landed at some sort of railway station. There were several levels of white stairs and platforms. Beyond the platform he could see purple mountains of majesty.

He'd always wanted to see America… of course he didn't think America had floating organic bags of gas. Politicians not withstanding, of course.

"_Alert! Explosive devices detected!"_ The geth announced in his head.

"You _could_ just call them 'bombs'." Harry muttered as he ducked back down.

Four icons appeared on a map in his vision denoting the location of the bombs. He could also see them outlined through walls.

So far he had taken out two of the heretics.

He leaned out to take another shot when his targets head exploded.

"_Possible Alliance allies have arrived."_

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes. Thank you so very much for pointing out the obvious." He said sarcastically.

"_New strategy recommended."_

Harry suddenly received details of this strategy.

"Why do you keep asking me to jump into imminent danger?" He asked rhetorically.

Before he could get a response he leapt out. "_Bombarda Maxima!_"

The remaining four Heretics were sent flying towards the newcomers. Harry immediately ran towards them and jumped on the chest of the nearest platform and cast several _Reductos_ in quick succession until the head was tiny pieces of disassembled scrap.

He quickly jumped to the next and repeated the same procedure. By the time he reached the third the newcomers had gathered their wits and dealt with the fourth in a similar manner.

They began to approach Harry, their weapons held cautiously.

"No time to talk. There are four bombs-"

"We dealt with them." The man in front stated. He was fairly tall with the designation N7 on his chest.

"You were telling me everything else! You couldn't have told me _that_?" Harry asked in frustration and he looked skyward.

"_We believed you did not want verbal warnings."_

"We _will_ be having a talk about this." Harry growled.

The three newcomers were looking at him worriedly as they couldn't hear the voices in Harry's head.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. This Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams." The N7 man introduced them.

"Harry Potter. Erm… I don't have a rank." He shrugged.

All of their faces where partially obscured by their helmets. Harry's visor was tinted but the helmet was shaped a lot like-

"Are you a quarian?" Alenko asked curiously. "Because you look and sound like one."

"No, I'm human. I got word that there was a heretic attack happening and I was sent to help out."

"Who sent you and who are the heretics?" Shepard asked.

"The geth sent me and these are the heretics." He kicked a nearby body.

He took a sharp step back when the weapons were pointed at him.

"_These_ are geth." Shepard said firmly.

"No, these are heretics. I should know. I've got the a fair amount of geth in my head." Harry said sullenly. Harry accessed his suit's commands and his helmet retracted and folded down to mesh with his armour leaving his head free.

"See? Human." Harry grinned.

"My god! He's just a kid, Commander." Williams said slightly disgusted.

"I'm eighteen." Harry grumbled.

"Sir, he doesn't seem to be an immediate threat and we do need to secure the artefact." Alenko spoke up.

"Agreed." Shepard nodded as he lowered his weapon. "Williams, you have point. Alenko, watch our rear. Until we can confirm your story you are coming with us." He told Harry.

"I knew this would be a bad idea." Harry hissed as he slumped his shoulders and turned to follow the soldier in pink and white armour.

"_This encounter will provide optimal conditions for meeting with the Citadel Races. We recommend accompanying the Alliance Soldiers. We will pilot the ship to your destination."_

Harry was not happy about this. He had bad experiences with governments. Usually they tried to frame him for stuff.

As they headed towards the end of the platform Harry realised that they hadn't tried to take the assault rifle or pistol he was carrying.

"_Your weapons are inscribed with runes that ensure organics do no notice them."_

"You can do magic?" Harry mumbled in quiet surprise.

"_Negative. We can only inscribe the symbols. Your suit siphons a portion of your energy to power them."_

"Still… that's one up on the biotics."

"Who are you talking to?" Shepard asked.

"The geth. They put a computer in my head and they give me information and talk to me." Harry shrugged.

"A computer… in your head?" Shepard said sceptically

"What do you think that biotic implant is in your Lieutenant's head?" Harry smirked.

"Contact!" Williams shouted as they reached some stairs.

Coming towards them were naked 'humans'.

They were hairless with no genitalia. They had grey/white skin with glowing blue eyes and large cables threaded above and below the skin.

"_Bombarda Maxima!_" The blast sent the three creatures sailing into the air and over the edge of the cliff the train station was built on. "Huh… look at 'em fly." Harry commented as he watched them vanish.

"What the hell kind of biotics are those?" Williams demanded.

"Erm… classified?" Harry tried.

"We'll deal with it later." Shepard said quickly. "Let's secure the beacon."

The beacon turned out to be some sort of pillar.

"Why would the Old Machines want this?" Harry asked.

"Old Machines?" Alenko repeated.

"That huge ship; the geth call it an Old Machine." Harry explained.

"We still aren't sure that this is why they came here. They may have just wanted to wipe out the colony."

"Williams!"

Harry and Alenko turned to see Shepard running towards Williams who was being dragged towards the beacon.

Shepard managed to push Williams away only to be caught up in the pull himself. He was lifted into the air, clearly with no ability to control his actions.

"Commander!"

Harry quickly grabbed Alenko and shoved him away to stop him from being stupid.

Unfortunately he forgot about his recent upgrades and sent Alenko flying to the end of the platform.

Harry cast a quick _Accio_ at the Commander just as the beacon exploded.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was not a happy bunny.

He was beginning to regret his decision to leave Rannoch as soon as he could.

But he really wanted to get back to Earth.

Of course his current situation pretty much guaranteed that outcome.

He was sitting in a medical lab slash storage room just off the medical bay.

Williams and Alenko had thrown him in there when they had brought an unconscious Shepard aboard.

That had been two hours ago.

He wasn't able to communicate with his ship as the geth living in his head had warned him that the humans could detect any transmissions even if they couldn't decode them.

That didn't stop the geth from entering the Normandy's systems and monitoring things.

He had a direct link to the security cameras around the ship and was monitoring the events in sickbay in his head.

Eventually the door was opened and Captain Anderson, the commander of the ship, and Commander Shepard, his XO (Executive Officer), entered.

"Harry James Potter. Born July 31st, 1980. Missing since 1997." Anderson read off a data pad.

"He doesn't _look_ 200 years old." Shepard said dryly.

"Thanks… I moisturise." Harry shrugged. Lavender and Pavarti had been quite vocal on the benefits of a rigorous moisturising routine to stave off the signs of aging.

"Can you explain where you've been all this time?" Anderson asked calmly.

Harry looked at him with a thoughtful frown. "Can you tell me why I should answer your questions?" He countered.

"It would only be to your benefit." Anderson reasoned. "We are currently holding you because you claim to be allied with the geth. The geth are an enemy of all Citadel Races which makes you either an enemy or delusional."

"So the fact that I destroyed all those heretic platforms on the planet means nothing to you? Brilliant. It's Britain all over again." Harry grumbled.

"If you answer our questions we might be able to reach an agreement." Shepard offered.

"You mean you'll let me go? Treat me like an equal? Maybe even say 'thanks' for all the help I gave you?" Harry asked doubtfully.

The two men shared a look.

"You have to understand our position-"

"How about you understand mine." Harry interrupted the Captain. "I willingly responded to a distress call from a colony. I willingly risked my own life to protect that colony. I saved the life of your Commander by getting him away from that beacon. Sound about right?" He asked irritably.

"According to the reports of the ground crew, yes." Anderson allowed.

"Right. So, lets look at what _you_ did." Harry said as he popped off the bed. "You greeted me with guns in my face despite my obvious friendly actions. You took me prisoner despite my honesty and openness and lack of aggressive intent towards you. Finally, you kidnapped me and locked me in a room despite having just rescued your Commander.

"Are you getting a good view of _my_ position?"

Anderson sighed. "Yes, I understand where you are coming from but-"

"So ask yourself this: What would _your_ people do if you were kidnapped by an alien force?"

"_Err… Captain, there's a ship that is blocking the Mass Relay, they are claiming we have their erm… 'Emissary' captive and demanding that he be released."_

Harry just smiled at the announcement over the speakers.

"The geth just wanted to make contact. That is why they sent me. Not very hospitable to keep me locked up now, is it?" Harry smarmily pointed out.

"But now you've got a ship threatening us." Shepard argued.

"No, we have a ship making demands. Your guy on the speakers didn't say anything about weapons." Harry pointed out.

"Joker, what is the status of the geth ship's weapons?" Anderson called out.

"_Geth ship? Captain, there is only one ship out here and it doesn't look anything like a geth ship."_ Joker reported. _"It looks like the Normandy and it hasn't powered up its weapons."_

"The Normandy is a prototype." Shepard frowned as he moved to the lab's computer and brought up the sensor and camera readouts.

"It only _looks_ like the Normandy. The geth decided that you wouldn't fire on a human looking ship without cause." Harry explained. "They won't take aggressive action unless you threaten them or me.

"Look, I am not a threat. I've already proven I'm an ally. I have been open and honest with you. Stop treating me like a prisoner and I will answer any questions I can. I was heading for the Citadel before the distress call so I can easily do it with you."

"What about that ship about there? You just happen to have an exact duplicate of one of the most advanced ships in the Alliance fleet?" Shepard asked as he indicated the image of the ship on the screen.

"Like I said, it only looks like the Normandy. The inside doesn't look _anything_ like this ship. If you want we can go over and have a look." Harry offered.

Shepard and Anderson shared another look. "Very well Mr. Potter. We won't keep you locked up. We will have to assign you an escort though as you are a civilian and this _is_ a military ship." Anderson agreed.

"Fine by me." Harry nodded.

"How did they know you were locked up?" Shepard asked.

"Erm… huh… apparently the geth in my head hacked your running lights and used them to signal my ship." Harry looked sheepish. "Sorry about that. I'll reconnect with the rest of the Geth network so they can track me directly."

"_Captain there is an signal being sent and received from the ship located in the medical lab."_ Came Joker's worried report.

The Captain and Commander glared at Harry.

"At least you'll always know where I am." Harry shrugged. "Oh, and apparently the ship has additional data and downloads from Eden Prime if you want them."

"Can you at least get them to let us through the relay? We need to report back to the Council about the geth attack-"

"Heretic attack." Harry corrected the Captain.

"-Saren, Nihlus and the Prothean Beacon." Anderson finished as he ignored Harry.

"_Captain, the ship has moved out of the way and they say they won't stop us."_

"Take us through Joker." Anderson ordered.

"_Roger."_

"Commander, take Mr. Potter here and give him a brief tour. I'll oversee the Normandy docking."

It was unspoken that the Commander should grill Harry as much as possible without pissing him off.

"Aye Captain."

Harry watched the Captain exit the room. "So… you ask a question, I ask a question?" Harry offered.

"Fine. But I want Dr. Chakwas to give you a physical first."

"Aww." Harry whined. "I hate hospitals."

Harry was quickly introduced to the grey haired Alliance doctor.

"You're English!"

"And so are you." The doctor responded dryly.

"Yeah… sorry, it's just that all I've met so far are geth and Americans. It's nice to meet someone from home."

"You've met the Captain. He's from London." She pointed out.

"He is? He sounds American." Harry frowned.

"Mr. Potter needs a Physical. He claims to have several geth implants." Shepard interrupted.

"Geth? Were you captured and experimented on?" She asked as she patted the bed indicating Harry to lie on it.

"No, I just sort of… landed on their planet." Harry said unhappily.

"_We could provide Chakwas Doctor with our files on your arrival and subsequent medical procedures."_

"Yeah, just don't make me watch it again." Harry shuddered.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry Mada- I mean Doctor. The geth were suggesting I give you a copy of the files and videos of what they did to me. It wasn't pretty."

"You can hear the 'geth' talking to you now?" She asked carefully.

"They use a small computer they installed in my brain. Most of which isn't my original brain though."

Chakwas pushed Harry back on to the bed and ran her scans.

"Well I'll be." She muttered. "This work is far more extensive and advanced than anything the Alliance can do. Even the salarians aren't this advanced."

"Why is his skeleton glowing?" Shepard asked.

"Because of the metal it is made of. His entire bone structure has been replaced with some form of super dense alloy."

"Yeah, they actually dropped me onto Eden Prime from orbit. Bloody terrifying." Harry grimaced.

"You survived an orbital drop? Without a pod?" Shepard asked with wide eyes.

"What's a pod?"

"Something's wrong here." Chakwas said quickly as she began tapping the screen. "The machine is being fed data from an outside source."

"Apparently the geth don't believe in asking permission." Harry said dryly. "They had hooked themselves into the medical computer so you can view the data collected by the nanites in my body."

"Nanites? You have fully functioning nanites?" Chakwas demanded.

Harry made a face of tasting something yucky. "They've also downloaded a copy of my medical files. If you are going to watch them, can I wait outside?"

"What? Yes, of course." She said quickly. "In fact both of you can go and I will view these privately. Mr. Potter is not a soldier and doctor/patient confidentiality applies."

Harry jumped off the bed and headed for the door… Shepard, left in his dust.

When the Commander realised that his charge had left him he quickly followed only to find Harry waiting outside calmly.

"Everything ok? The images can't be to bad."

"Commander, when _you_ land on the ground from over four hundred feet and break every bone in your body then _you_ can complain. I've had a lot of nasty stuff done to me… but watching a video of the Geth replacing my powdered bones with what's in here now is more than I can stomach.

"Speaking of which, I'm hungry. Any chance for some food?"

"Well, I am supposed to give you a tour. We can start here, with the mess." Shepard led him over to the food dispensers and helped Harry use the vending machines.

"So are you really over two hundred years old?" Shepard asked as they sat at one of the tables.

"No… I sort of travelled through time. One moment it was 1997 the next… 2183." Harry shrugged as he began to eat. "I don't suppose you know anyone who can use magic as opposed to biotics?"

"Magic?" Shepard asked with a smirk.

"That's what I thought." Harry sighed.

"So why were the geth attacking Eden Prime?"

Harry put his spoon and fork down and looked at the Commander steadily. "Alright, let me explain this to you clearly. Several years ago a very old machine, an AI in a huge ship, approached the geth. It offered to advance the geth beyond their current state.

"This offer split the geth into two groups. Those that wanted the advancement and those that felt it would be better to advance on their own terms.

"It doesn't help that the old machine wanted to eradicate all organics.

"The geth that joined the old machine split off from the main group and are now known as 'Heretics'. You _cannot_ call them geth because it would be like referring to racists as the human species. They aren't. They are just a group of evil gits who happen to share the same body type… like Death Eaters and Nazis."

"Ok, then why did the heretics attack Eden Prime?" Shepard decided to humour his guest.

"Because of that beacon apparently. The leader of the Heretics is a turian named Saren Arterius. He needed the beacon for something to do with the old machines. I don't know what because the geth don't know. This was all they could find out from surveillance footage."

"There wasn't any surveillance footage." Shepard countered.

"There was, before the heretics wiped it. The geth hacked the systems from orbit as soon as we arrived. That Saren is a real creep. He shot that other turian in the back." Harry scowled.

Shepard noticed that Harry seemed to look into the distance. "You're watching the footage now? In your head?"

"Sure. It's kind of weird. I think the geth messed with my brain more than they have told me because I am sure it shouldn't be as easy as it is, I'm sure I shouldn't be as accepting of all this as I am."

There was a pause as Harry tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Apparently they added false memories and experiences that made me think I had been using this stuff for years. Once my brain had achieved 'sufficient levels of competence' they removed the memories.

"Is that what they call 'brain washing'? Oh, 'brain conditioning'. Much better." Harry said sarcastically.

"So why did the geth make you this Emissary?" Shepard asked as Harry continued eating.

"They believe that I was sent to them. In a way I agree. I did appear somewhat randomly on their planet."

"But why do they need an Emissary?" He pushed.

"Because they want to be with the quarians again. I think it is a mistake but they aren't the first creatures I've met who enjoyed serving." Harry sighed.

"But they attacked the quarians. They drove them off Rannoch."

"Actually the quarians attacked them. The geth were just defending themselves."

"_Commander Shepard to the CIC."_

"Should I just wait here?" Harry asked.

"No. Come with me, just don't touch anything and stand where I tell you to."

Shepard allowed Harry to enter the cockpit and watch as the Normandy docked. He hadn't seen many pictures of space and this was an incredible experience.

* * *

><p>Once they had docked Captain Anderson led the Commander, Alenko, Williams and Harry onto the Citadel to meet with the human ambassador: Donald Udina.<p>

The man was ranting at three holographic projections of a turian, asari and salarian.

It was clear that the three aliens considered the human nothing but a whining brat hardly worth their disdain. Eventually the transmission was cut and Udina turned his ire on Anderson and his group.

"I see you brought half your crew, Anderson." Udina sneered.

"Just the ground crew and Mr. Potter who has his own business on the Citadel and was instrumental in driving off the geth." Anderson remained firm and unyielding.

"A boy?"

Harry hated being called 'boy'. His Uncle called him that. The wizarding world made it his title.

"When you've destroyed several heretics and taken down numerous terrorists _then_ you can dispute my age…old man." Harry glared at him.

"Wonderful." Udina said sarcastically as he turned back to Anderson. "Another barbarian. If it wasn't bad enough that Shepard destroyed a priceless prothean artefact you bring a civilian child mercenary."

"First of all, Shepard didn't destroy it. The beacon attacked _him_ and then self destructed." Harry stepped into the man's personal space. "Secondly, I am eighteen years old and have _never_ been paid for the work I do. I have never even been _thanked_ for all the lives I've saved. So lose the bloody attitude or I'll give you a personal demonstration."

Shepard nudged Alenko who quickly pulled Harry back and behind the Commander.

Williams was fighting hard to control her smirk. She hated politicians as they were the driving force behind ruining her family name because of her grandfather's surrender during the First Contact War with the turians.

"Maybe we should try and stay on track." Shepard tried to play peacemaker. "If we can show the council our evidence we can prove that Saren was behind the attack."

"Fine." Udina was not happy at being deprived the opportunity to berate them some more. "Head to the Presidium Tower. The hearing is due to start in an hour."

Udina stormed out of the room.

"What. A. Child." Harry glared after him.

"Shepard I'll meet you outside the Council Chambers. Don't be long." Anderson said before leaving himself.

"That could have gone better?" Alenko sighed.

"Why? Because you have a mysterious ability to control other people's opinions?" Harry scoffed.

"What?"

"That was always going to go the way it did." Harry explained. "Udina is an arrogant git and the Council are a bunch of old condescending geezers."

"Potter is right."

"Call me Harry." Harry told the Commander. "Most of my life my name, 'Potter', has been used in a bad way."

"Alright, unless it's official." Shepard agreed slowly.

"You're just abandoning your family name?" Williams asked with a frown.

Harry looked at her curiously before he remembered the information he had downloaded on her. "This isn't because of something a family member did with good intentions and was then harassed about." Harry told her. "This is me personally been accused of everything and it was always: '_Potter_ this and _Potter_ that'." He spat. "Only my friends called me Harry and it was always with affection and caring." He said in fond remembrance of Hermione and Hagrid.

"We should get moving sir. Might be a good idea to speak to someone in C-Sec too. The Asari Counsellor did say they were leading the investigation." Alenko suggested.

"Lets find out where they are then."

"Follow me." Harry said as a small icon appeared on his vision with a map of the local area.

"I thought you'd never been here before." Williams frowned.

"Haven't, but I've downloaded all the data I can for the Citadel. How do you think I know about your family?" Harry pointed out.

"Lets get moving if we are going to make it to the hearing on time." Shepard said as they headed out.

* * *

><p>As they left the embassy offices Harry led the way down the stairs. He then noticed the asari at the receptionist's desk.<p>

"You go on. I want to talk to the receptionist. I haven't talked to any aliens other than the geth yet. Just go up those stairs and take the first door on the left."

"Williams, stay with him." Shepard ordered.

"Aye Skipper."

Harry walked up to the blue skinned woman who looked up and smiled professionally. "Hi."

"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked.

"I was hoping you'd talk to me about some stuff. I'm completely new to all this stuff about aliens, space and advanced tech. I only learned it all existed a few days ago."

"Really?" She asked doubtfully.

"There was a whole mess of unusual events that led to me finding out."

She sighed. "Look, if you are looking for a thrill with an alien then go to Chora's Den or book an appointment with the Consort."

"Huh?"

"I'm not going to date you or have sex with you." She said irritably.

"But I don't want either of those things." Harry said in confusion. "I don't even know you. I was just looking to find out some stuff from an asari point of view."

"Asari point of view?"

"I've read all about your biology and culture. I know there are no male asari. All the sentient species I have read about so far have a mother and a father… even if there isn't any love or connection. I was wondering what the Asari think of the concept of dual genders and requiring two genders to pro-create?"

"I-" That one stumped the woman. "No one has ever asked that before. They always just question how we pro-create, they never ask our opinion on other species."

"Well… how about this, do you find male aliens to be more alien to you than female aliens? Take Williams here, I'm male and she is female. Do you find her easier to relate to than a man?"

She looked between the two thoughtfully. "I'd never really thought about it before but I suppose I do find her easier in some ways. She has breasts, softer features, similar reproductive structures… the only thing that makes us really different is human hair and skin colour… and the fact that you have lots of shades of skin colour." She admitted.

"Cool, do you mind if I ask something similar?" Harry grinned.

She gave a wry smile. "Go on, I'm curious as to what you want to know now."

"Well, asari don't have hair like you pointed out. Have you ever touched human hair and what does it make you feel? Is it pleasing, off putting, curious or what?"

"I have never touched human hair so I couldn't say."

"What about how it looks then?"

She frowned as she sat back in her chair and folded her arms and looked at them carefully. "It is… strange. The most physical contact I have had with humans is their custom of shaking hands and hugging."

"Hugging?"

"A lot of the male humans hug… don't they?"

Harry and Williams frowned. "No, they don't. And if they try to touch your breasts or ass file a complaint." Williams said as Harry nodded.

"File a complaint anyway." Harry said. "Listen, would you mind if we continue this another time? I'd like to report the fact that human males have been inappropriate to you to C-Sec."

"I- ok." She said slightly sick of the thought that she had been duped and used.

"Thanks, it's been great talking to you." Harry gave her a friendly smile before he stomped off to the stairs.

"I can't believe that jerks would try something like that." Williams scowled.

"Lets make sure they can't do it again." Harry said as he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

They found Shepard and Alenko standing in front of a turian seated at a desk.

"Wonderful. More humans." The turian said sarcastically. "What do you want?"

"You're the head of C-Sec right?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"The asari receptionist downstairs, she's been taken advantage of by human males. I am filing a complaint on her behalf and I am requesting that a guard be placed downstairs for her protection."

"Why would humans report on other humans?" The turian, Executor Palin, asked.

"Because it's the right thing to do!" Harry said impatiently. "She didn't know that human males don't hug in greeting and they tricked her and used the opportunity to grope her. She didn't realise this was happening but that doesn't mean it is alright."

"This _is_ a C-Sec matter, but I am not the person you should be coming to."

"She works closely with you. Perhaps she deserves the attention of the Executor." Harry countered reasonably. "She is much like an ally, making sure to filter who gets to see you."

"Fine. I won't lead an investigation but I will instigate it and have it reported to me." Palin agreed reluctantly.

"Thank you. So, did you answer the Executor's questions?" Harry asked as he turned to Shepard.

"Questions?"

"He's C-Sec, he's running the investigation into Saren, right? We are the ones with the evidence, isn't that how investigations work?" Harry asked in confusion.

"I already have the files from your ship and crew." Palin waved his three-clawed hand dismissively.

"'Kay, guess we'll see you up at the hearing."

"I'm sure I won't be needed."

Harry frowned and turned to leave. The others followed him curiously.

"Problem Harry?" Shepard asked as they headed down the stairs.

Harry gave the asari receptionist a reassuring nod before he turned left and out onto the walkway and towards the Presidium Tower.

"He could be a problem." Harry said cautiously. "He didn't seem all that interested in investigating. If he was then he would have asked us questions. Taken statements."

"I think he's torn between his dislike of humans and his hate and disdain for Spectres." Alenko offered.

"He doesn't like Spectres?" Williams asked.

"He doesn't like it when people are put above the law." Shepard clarified. "He thinks Spectres are a recipe for abuse of power."

"Well… he's not wrong, is he?" Harry shrugged.

They passed by lots of aliens as they headed to the tower. Harry really wanted to talk to some of them. Like the hanar who were floating jellyfish looking aliens. He was curious and wanted to know more.

He was also still suffering a bit of denial and couldn't shake the thought he was dreaming all of this.

Although it was more a matter of wishful thinking on his part.

Eventually they reached the base of the Presidium Tower and entered the lift to the top.

After a minute of riding Harry began to get restless.

"So… Williams… your armour is… _pink_." He smirked.

There was an audible growl from the dark haired soldier.

"No, it's just… light red." Shepard stifled a smile.

"Skipper!" Came the betrayed cry.

"Really? Because last I checked that was just a way of using more words to say… 'pink'."

"It's more politically correct to say 'light red'."

"Is it more 'politically correct' to make women wear pink?" Harry laughed.

"No, but there isn't a regulation about it. Why _is_ your armour pink, Chief?" Shepard asked.

"Because it was the last armour available, that's why." She grumbled.

"Lucky for you guys we've arrived." Alenko smirked as he hastily headed through the opening doors of the lift.

Williams sent Shepard and Harry a glare before she stomped after him.

"We are going to pay for that." Shepard sighed.

"It's not my fault! The lift should have moved quicker." Harry said defensively.

The group of four made their way through the gardens that lined the stairs up to the Council meeting area where Anderson warned them they had already started.

"The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate that Saren was involved in anyway." Harry's implants immediately identified the speaker as Tevos, the Asari Councillor. He was not impressed by what he was hearing.

"The investigation led by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason." That was Sparatus, the Turian Councillor.

"An eye witness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!" Udina argued.

"We've read the Eden Prime report, Ambassador. The testimony of one traumatised dockworker is hardly compelling proof." Valern, the Salarian Councillor commented with an almost bored tone.

"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend." The holographic projection of Saren was some twelve feet tall. Of course Harry was wondering why Saren wasn't here in person.

"That just let you catch him off guard!"

Harry was surprised that Captain Anderson was allowed to speak. He guessed that this was more informal than his own trial for miss-use of underage magic.

"Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." There was an almost smug tone to Saren's comment. It reminded Harry of Lucius.

"And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed." Saren taunted.

"Actually, it wasn't Commander Shepard's fault." Harry spoke up.

He was very nervous but he could see that they were about to be rail roaded like he was.

"The beacon self-destructed. I don't know if it was because you booby trapped it or because it was built to do that, but I know for a fact that Commander Shepard didn't even touch the beacon."

"Who are you?" Sparatus demanded.

"Harry Potter. I was there on Eden Prime and helped Commander Shepard and his team. I'm curious, why have you thrown out the video evidence?" He asked before the turian could respond.

"There was no video evidence." The Valern stated. "The geth wiped all data from the systems."

"Well, the heretics did. The geth downloaded the data as soon as they arrived. We gave copies to Udina." Harry turned to the Ambassador.

"We were unable to confirm the identity of this individual and didn't want to enter possibly tainted evidence." Udina admitted.

Harry moved to the screen in front of the human group. He stood there staring at it as instructed by the geth in his head until he was told otherwise.

"Where did this data come from?" Sparatus demanded angrily.

Harry looked up to see the images from various security cameras showing Saren working with the heretics, using the beacon and… shooting Nihlus in the back.

"These files were downloaded as the geth dropped me on the planet to help deal with the heretics." Harry explained.

"You were working with the geth?" The Asari asked in surprise.

"If I could explain on his behalf." Shepard spoke up. "According to Mr. Potter, the geth have split into two factions. Those working with Saren are known as the 'Heretics'. The rest have no interest in harming organics and just want peace."

"And you believe this fairy tale?" Sparatus scoffed.

"I don't believe in dismissing people out of hand." Shepard retorted a little heatedly.

"Does it matter? These images clearly show that Saren needs to be brought in." Anderson argued.

"These images have clearly been faked. If the human is really linked with the geth then he has access to advanced imaging techniques." Saren said dismissively.

"Why don't you add some proof that you weren't there?" Harry challenged.

"What?"

"We have images and eye witness testimony that you were there. Where are you right now? We can use that to at least determine if you could have been in the area based on your ships top speed and range." Harry was being fed the information by the geth based on his idea of making Saren prove his claim.

"There are thousands of ships within range of Eden Prime. Are you going to search them all?" Saren laughed mockingly.

"We aren't trying to prove they did it." Harry smiled. "We are trying to prove _you_ did it. If we search your ship then we can prove either your guilt or your innocence. If you are innocent then you have nothing to hide."

"My work is top secret. I can't have you primitive humans-"

"Then have a group of Spectres do it. No one said a human had to. With an attitude like yours I'm sure you can't have many friends." Harry muttered at the end… unfortunately, whatever audio amplifications were used managed to pick it up.

"No other Spectres have been read in on my missions."

"Then _read. Them. In!_" Harry said sarcastically. He turned to the councillors. "Honestly, I thought Spectres were supposed to be smart. You don't have to arrest him, just call him in and search his ship. Have a team of Spectres run the investigation. They have the necessary clearance, right?"

"My current mission is time sensitive-"

"Then travel fast or hand your mission to another Spectre." Shepard countered.

"Enough." Tevos said sharply. "The humans are right. This matter can be resolved simply by verifying your own claims, Saren. Return to the Citadel for de-briefing. In the meantime we will attempt to authenticate these recordings. I will warn you that these recordings alone may not be enough. A secondary source would be better.

"This meeting is in recess. We will re-convene in two hours to determine the authenticity of the recordings provided by Harry Potter."

Harry sighed in relief.

"That was impressive, Potter." Anderson nodded in approval as they moved away from the platform for petitioners to the Council.

"That was damn near a disaster!" Udina argued. "Do you know how close we came to being accused of colluding with the geth!?"

"Based on what I saw, not very." Williams smirked.

Udina chose to ignore her. "And you, Anderson. Bringing you here was clearly a mistake. I should have known your history with Saren would be an issue."

"Look, we really don't have time to deal with your tantrum." Harry said quickly, he resisted the urge to smirk as Udina turned purple. "We have two hours to find additional evidence. My advice is to start with C-Sec. Try and see if they have anything else that can be used."

"That's a good start." Anderson agreed. "You should also try the volus, Barla Von. He works for the Shadow Broker."

"The volus are in charge of banking, right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, grumpy little bastards." Williams scowled.

"Chief." Shepard said warningly.

"Sorry sir." She really didn't mean it though.

"I can check with him then. I need to see about money and stuff. Especially as I haven't been around for… far too long." After a year on the run with Hermione, Harry had learnt to think practically.

Although he still charged in like a Gryffindor.

"Williams, you can go with him."

"The C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation is a turian named Garrus Vakarian." Udina said authoritatively. "I have a contact in C-Sec named Harkin. He can track him down for you."

"Harkin is a drunk. He was suspended for drinking on the job. I won't trust him." Anderson declared.

"You won't be doing anything. I won't have the Council using your history with Saren against us." Udina was about as snooty as they come. If you weren't with him then you were just a waste of space.

"You can't just cut the Captain out." Shepard said heatedly.

"No, he's right. I'm too close to this." Anderson admitted defeatedly.

"Good. Anderson, meet me in my office in an hour." Udina ordered before he turned and strode off.

Harry glared at the man as he headed for the nearby rapid transport terminal. He then grinned for a second and waited as he stared at the terminal from a distance. Then he turned back to the others who were looking at him curiously.

He ignored their looks.

"So, Anderson. Udina is a git. A stupid git. As you have an hour, I have an idea of how you could be a part of this without exactly being _part_ of this." Harry smiled.

"Oh?"

"I hope this doesn't involve fashion for women soldiers." Alenko groaned quietly.

"Saren isn't the only Spectre, right? Nihlus was one too. Why not try and find another Spectre and see if you can't convince _them_ to investigate."

"He's right Captain. Only the Council and other Spectres have that sort of pull." Shepard agreed.

"Yes. Of course finding them won't be easy." Anderson mused as he rubbed his chin.

Harry stared at the man's arm and Anderson's omni-tool lit up.

"And now you know where a good few of the off duty ones are." Harry grinned.

"You can hack omni-tools?" Williams asked.

"Me? No. The geth can though and there are plenty of them in my head. But that was me just downloading a file to his omni-tool."

"We have a plan people. Let's get to it." Anderson ordered as they moved off.

The group walked past Udina who was still trying to get the rapid transport terminal to respond to him. They got to the lift and entered.

"What did you do to Udina, Harry?" Alenko asked knowingly.

"Me? Nothing!" Harry said innocently. "Although I may have asked the geth to lock him out of the rapid transport system."

"So he has to take the elevator like the rest of us grunts." Williams smirked.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear this." Anderson declared as he stifled a smile.

After a few minutes silence Harry got restless again.

"So, Williams."

"Oh god." Alenko groaned.

"What _is_ the justification for pink armour?"

Williams glared at him as Shepard turned away to hide his own laughter and Anderson raised an eyebrow.

"Are there pink worlds out there where your armour is perfect camouflage? Or is it because you can blend in better with the battlefield blood?"

"I'm just a grunt." She growled sullenly. "I wear what they tell me to. I sleep where they tell me. I eat what they tell me to and I _shoot_ what they tell me to.

"Captain, any immediate targets that need 'shooting' sir?" She asked as she snapped to attention.

"Not at the moment Chief." Anderson said with an amused smile. He turned back to Harry. "It is actually designed to put civilians at ease around soldiers who are deployed to colonies. Lots of soldiers in black tend to be fairly intimidating. Varying colour schemes were introduced to make things more friendly."

"Huh… I don't remember seeing many colours of armour back on Eden Prime. I guess your CO must have thought you had the… right type of personality." Harry grinned.

"Sir-"

"At ease soldier." Anderson said as seriously as he could, despite the Chief's begging expression.

"Thank god!" Alenko gasped as he quickly dived out of the opening lift doors.

"Oi! Aren't you supposed to wait for your superiors to leave first?" Harry called out.

The lieutenant blushed. "Erm… just checking the area for hostiles sir."

"Glad to know I won't be attacked by that shifty looking shrub." Anderson said dryly. "Shepard, Potter, I'll see you both back at the hearing." He said be for he marched off.

Harry was sure he heard the man's deep voice chuckling.

"Chief, try not to get Harry killed." Shepard instructed. "Or kill him." He added as an after thought.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Anyone who has played the games knows the hell that is the elevator ride. The conversation though was based on both a long running gag in Red vs Blue and a conversation I have never been able to have replayed between Tali and Ash during those rides.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry and Chief Williams quickly made their way over the clean white bridge that stood over a lake. Harry tried to keep his attention on the job but it was hard with all these new aliens around. It was like the first time he had seen Diagon Alley.

They soon came to a door that Harry's geth-provided map proclaimed as the Financial Offices of Barla Von.

"Barla Von, yes?" Harry asked as he entered the rather empty room. It looked like an unused storeroom with a desk.

"I am. And you must be part of Shepard's team, Earth Clan." Came the laboured wheezing of the diminutive volus. "I had expected the Commander himself."

"We are on a clock so we split up. I have some personal things to discuss with you so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone."

"I understand." It was clear that he meant it even if he didn't like it.

"So, Saren, what do you know?"

"I know that my employer, the Shadow Broker, has put a hit out on him. Saren made the very unwise move of betraying him. I would recommend that you go to C-Sec. I heard that the krogan assigned the contract, Urdnot Wrex, was 'paying a visit' there."

"That it?"

"That is all _I_ have. Wrex may have more when you talk to him."

"Williams could you give me a minute here? I just need to do some personal banking. You might want to let Shepard know what we've learnt."

The Chief looked at him suspiciously but nodded and backed out of the room.

"My name is Harry Potter. Any chance you can access my financial records?" Harry asked.

"Potter?" The volus glared at him. "You had better have some pretty conclusive evidence. The number of people trying to claim they are Harry Potter really gobs up our ventilators."

"Erm… fingerprints, voice print and DNA." Harry shrugged.

The volus stepped back and crossed his arms. "You think people haven't tried all that before? The Harry Potter account has a very simple stipulation, a test that the candidate has to pass."

Barla looked around the room and spotted an old OSD. "Here, turn that into a living animal."

"Really?"

"If you can do it you will make me very rich." Barla nodded. "I've got a lot of money riding in the pool that says the accounts will eventually be claimed. All the candidate has to do is turn an inanimate object into a living, breathing creature in front of someone."

Harry sighed and waved his hand turning the computer pad into a mouse.

"By the clans!" Barla moved in and prodded the squeaking thing before it tried to run and Harry had to summon it back. "This is registering as alive!" Barla gasped.

"That_ is_ what you wanted, right?"

***THWACK***

Harry stood there, glaring at the volus as blood dripped down his face. The volus was standing there stunned, a military knife in one hand and a decapitated mouse on the desk.

"Was that really necessary?" Harry demanded as he cleaned himself with magic.

"It was all I needed to prove you _are_ Harry Potter." Barla offered. "I will send you the details of your portfolio. Earth-Clan Hermione Granger was in charge of your accounts and she invested well.

"Aside from family heirlooms, she sold anything you owned and invested a good portion of your estate on the Earth Stock Markets. She had a very good eye for business and managed to ensure you would never want for money again."

"Oh."

"I will have the account details sent to you. I trust you will remember what we have done for you in this matter?" Barla Von said pointedly.

"Sure. As long as the volus remain good people I will always remember."

"Good." Barla snorted. "Such a subjective term, Earth Clan."

"Fine. Don't hurt the innocent and we'll never have a problem." Harry sighed.

"We can abide by that." Barla nodded, his whole, short, stubby body moving.

"Thanks for the help." Harry waved as he exited and met up with Williams.

"Get everything done?" Williams asked casually… or as casually as someone with no interrogation experience can.

Harry just smiled. "A friend from back home was apparently given control of my money and possessions. She did a lot of good with it."

"Remember to send her a gift then."

Harry's smile dropped as her words made him realise that Hermione was dead.

He _had_ to get to Earth. He needed to find out for himself.

"_Alert! Local transmissions indicate a quarian is in imminent danger!"_

Harry frowned. "Can't you alert C-Sec?"

"Huh?" The Chief asked as Harry started talking to no one.

"_C-Sec will not listen to geth intel. C-Sec will not arrive in time to prevent quarian from entering trap. Quarian is good candidate for introductions to Admiralty Board."_

Harry called up the map of the Citadel. He didn't see how he was going to be able to get there in time.

"_Local transport is en route._"

A new beacon appeared in Harry's vision and he watched as an air car flew speedily towards them.

"Chief, I've got to go rescue a quarian. I'll meet up with you and the Commander back at the embassy." Harry said as he strode to the edge of the walkway.

"Nothing doing, Harry. Skipper said I need to watch your back. I'm coming with." She said firmly.

"Then check your weapon and strap in." Harry said as the car landed and opened to reveal it was empty.

Harry was instantly connected with the car's on board sensors. He immediately hit the acceleration causing Williams to be crushed in her seat.

"Shit!"

"Sorry Chief. We have to get to the Wards in less then two minutes. You might want to close you eyes if you're squeamish." Harry said.

"Why are _your_ eyes closed?!"

"Because I am flying by sensors. I see what the car sees. It's easier this way, like flying a broomstick." Harry said calmly.

Ashley Williams was a hardcore soldier. It was only a few days prior that she had stormed head first into attacking heretics... but even that couldn't prepare her for Harry's driving.

She hugged her gun and prayed.

The Wards were the slums of the Citadel. The members of the rich and high society lived in the Presidium but it was the common folk who lived in the Wards. And it was obvious that the Presidium didn't care about the Wards as the pristine white décor gave way to bad lighting and depressing colours.

"Twenty seconds till we get there." Harry announced.

Williams steeled herself. She checked her gun and helmet as the car came to a screeching halt and they leapt out. She followed Harry as he ran full pelt down corridors; doors seemed to open long before he reached them.

Unfortunately for Williams, Harry was moving faster than a human possibly could. Eventually she had to follow the sound of his footsteps.

Harry, meanwhile, knew he was too late to keep the quarian from walking into the trap. He could hear gunfire. He just hoped he got there in time to prevent the quarian from dying.

He turned a corner and saw the quarian hiding behind some crates. Caught in the crossfire between the quarian and Shepard were a turian and two salarians.

Harry dropped to his knees mid run, sliding past the startled quarian on the smooth floors, before he unleashed a _Bombarda Maxima_ on the unsuspecting aliens.

"Hold your fire, he's one of ours." Came Shepard's voice.

Harry looked up at the ceiling and grimaced. "I really didn't mean to do that."

"This one packs a punch for such a small guy." A large krogan was clearly impressed.

"Who are you people? How did you do that?" The quarian demanded.

"Commander Shepard, Earth Alliance Navy. We received word you were about to walk into a trap because of some data you have."

"How did he do that?" She asked again. She knew a few biotics but she had never seen one turn three people into stains on a ceiling.

"Great, I've got salarian on my armour." A new turian that was with the Commander grumbled as he wiped blood and guts that were dripping from the ceiling off his shoulder.

"I don't know. Harry is still a bit of a mystery." Shepard admitted.

At that moment Williams ran up, clearly out of breath. "Potter… bastard… inhuman!"

"Did you take a detour?" Harry asked curiously. "It wasn't that far and I've been here about a minute."

"How are you… so damned… fast?" She demanded between gasps.

Harry suddenly looked a little embarrassed as more information came up. "Oops, sorry about that. Apparently the geth upgraded my muscles as well as my bones."

***BANG***

"Put the weapon down!" Shepard ordered as everyone but the Chief pointed theirs at the quarian.

Williams was quickly checking Harry. His armour had taken most of the hit but his jaw and neck took some of the scatter from the shotgun.

"You heard him! He said he was working with the geth!" The quarian argued.

"Takes a sick kind of person to shoot someone in cold blood when they've just saved your life." The krogan rumbled with a scowl.

"Skipper, you should see this." Williams called out.

"Garrus, secure her weapon." Shepard ordered as he turned back to Harry and the Chief.

"He's got some form of advanced healing." Williams indicated the visibly healing lacerations on his face.

"He did mention something about nanites." Shepard nodded. "Alenko, call the Normandy. Have Doctor Chakwas meet us at the embassy."

* * *

><p>As Harry woke up he saw a readout of everything he had missed after he was shot that the geth were able to note.<p>

"I told you there was no point trying to help the quarians." He grumbled to the geth as he sat up.

"Mr. Potter, glad to see you're finally awake."

"Oh, hi Doctor." Harry greeted the Normandy's physician. "Half an hour? I was only out for half an hour after being shot at point blank range?" He muttered incredulously.

"How did you know that?" Chakwas asked.

"I have a clock in my head." Harry shrugged.

"Of course, your neural implants." She frowned. "Mr. Potter… Harry, you do realise that they aren't really implants, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Whilst you do have some organic matter from what was clearly your original brain, most of it is synthetic replications or alternatives."

"Do you remember how I didn't want to see the movies of the geth fixing me?" Harry scowled.

"Ah… I apologise. But I must warn you that repressing is not good for you."

"Don't worry. The geth have me pegged at stage one: denial." Harry said a little sarcastically.

"At least they are doing more than just keeping your body healthy." She sighed.

"So what have I missed?"

"I don't know the details. The quarian you rescued had additional evidence against Saren. They were about to head off to present it to the Council when I had you brought back here."

"Well, I should probably go and catch up with them. I want to do a bit of shopping as well." Harry said as he slid off the bed.

"I can't stop you, but please be careful and contact me if anything feels off."

"I will, thank you." He said as he walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>Harry managed to do a bit of shopping with the account details that Barla Von had forwarded to him. He carried a large briefcase as he jogged up the stairs to the petitioner's platform where Shepard and his team were standing.<p>

Williams saw the quarian instinctively move for her weapon and she calmly placed herself between them.

"What have I missed?" Harry whispered.

"They stripped Saren of his spectre status and ordered him hunted down. Now they are trying to deny the existence of the Reapers."

"What are Reapers?"

"We don't know, an asari mentioned them in the evidence Tali, the quarian, gave us. Shepard thinks they are what he saw in his vision. They are calling the Commander delusional for believing nightmares and are trying to blame the geth. They are saying that the geth made that huge ship that attacked Eden Prime." She whispered back.

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander. A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will." Harry perked up at hearing the Salarian try to rationalise things away.

"I'm sorry, a myth?" Harry asked as he skipped up next to Shepard. He ignored the glare being sent by Udina. "What evidence do you have that this is just a myth?"

"What else could it be?" Sparatus scoffed. "What proof could there possibly be that any of this is real?"

"Lets see…" Harry said in mock thought. "Great big honking spaceship of unknown design attacking a colony. Warnings of these ships from a beacon that the big ship, Saren and the Heretics were all after. Two highly placed members of the Council species discussing these Reapers and the evidence offered by the geth themselves that they were once approached by Nazara."

"Nazara? What-"

"That is the name the ship identified itself with when it approached the geth." Harry explained for Valern. "So, want to explain away my evidence?"

"It is obvious that the ship is a geth construct." Valern said snidely. He didn't like being interrupted.

"You don't know much about AI's, do you?" Harry smiled a smile that didn't make his eyes… smile. "They aren't very artistic. You ask them to build something to be more efficient then sure… they can think circles around you. But if you ask them to paint an artistic impression of a sunset… all you are going to get back is photograph of what they saw."

Harry pulled up the image of the reaper over Eden Prime. Next to it was an image of a geth dreadnought.

"As you can see, aesthetically these two ships were created by two different species."

"Saren could easily have come up with the design himself." Sparatus argued.

"And does Saren's psychological profile indicate that he has these skills and leanings?" Harry asked. He already knew as the geth had hacked the spectre database.

"I would have to check." He deflected the query.

"Really? You clearly didn't do much research on the participants of this trial, did you?" Harry sighed. "Anyway, what about the beacon? Shepard clearly had a vision provided by the beacon."

"Bad dreams are not something that will move this Council." Sparatus waved a dismissive hand.

"First of all, the medical readings taken of Commander Shepard showed he was not 'dreaming'. Second of all, are you setting a precedent?" Harry grinned.

"What?"

"If you want to make it so that visions and the like are not to be used then the asari are going to be pretty pissed. They have the mental ability to meld with others, to perceive thoughts and memories."

Sparatus made to reply but a sharp look from Tevos held his tongue.

"So finally we have two high ranking members of the asari and turians: Benezia and Saren. Could they actually know what they are talking about when it comes to Reapers… or do their governments just have a habit of promoting the mentally imbalanced?" He challenged.

The three shared a look. It wasn't feasible to brush this under the carpet with so many witnesses.

"It hardly matters. Saren has been stripped of his status and no longer has access to Council resources." Sparatus said with a hint of defeat.

"Just the heretics and the huge honking space craft that decimated a colony… and of course whatever Matriarch Benezia gives him." Harry pointed out.

"Send the fleet in!" Harry groaned as Udina tried to take back control of the discussion. "You know where Saren is hiding. Send them in and flush him out."

"A fleet cannot track down one man." Valern stated, somewhat astounded at the suggestion.

"Not much of a fleet then." Once again Harry underestimated the power of the microphones used and his muttered scoff was heard by all.

"The fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the geth from attacking anymore of our colonies." Udina persisted.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems!" Sparatus countered. "We won't be dragged into a galactic conflict for a few human colonies!"

"Wow." Harry breathed. "Earth isn't required to come to _your _aid if you are attacked are they? I mean; you do have a habit of attacking anything that is new. Krogan, humans… and so on."

"Look, send me then." Shepard stepped up, pushing Harry back towards Williams. "I can take Saren down."

"The Commander is right. There is a way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies." Tevos seemed relieved not to have to deal with the other two humans.

"No! It's too soon. Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres."

"You don't have to send the fleet into the Traverse, and the Ambassador gets his human spectre." Shepard played to the desires of both sides.

Tevos gave Sparatus a pointed look. He reluctantly caved.

The three Councillors activated the consoles in front of them. A crowd began to gather to witness.

"Commander Shepard, step forward." Tevos instructed.

Shepard moved up as Udina… didn't move back, but moved to the side. A true politician, not one to miss being seen with the best and brightest.

"It is the decision of this Council that you be granted the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." Tevos declared.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen." Valern explained reverently. "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Tevos continued.

"Spectres bear a great burden." Sparatus declared with pride. "They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human spectre Commander." Tevos said. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"I'm honoured, Councillor." Shepard bowed.

Harry reluctantly stomped on the urge to mutter the phrase: 'Suck up'. He had already tested those audio pick-ups and he didn't intend to do it again.

Fortunately for Harry, Valern took away his chance.

"We are sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorised to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"Any idea where to find him?" Shepard queried.

"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Udina."

Harry grinned as he thought it was obvious that Sparatus was desperate to get rid of them.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned." Tevos declared.

Looked like Tevos was just as desperate.

"Congratulations Commander." Anderson shook Shepard's hand.

"We've got a lot of work to do, Shepard." Udina said with an eager note. "You're going to need a ship, crew, supplies…"

"You'll get access to special equipment and training now. You should go down to C-Sec and speak to the Spectre Requisitions Officer." Anderson seemed pretty eager himself.

"Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up." Udina ordered.

"Hmph, bastard didn't even thank you." Wrex, the krogan, scowled as they watched the two men walk off.

"He's a politician." Harry shrugged. "As far as he's concerned he's the one doing all the work."

"And you, you speak as well as you fight." Wrex said approvingly. "You'll definitely be interesting to fight beside on this mission."

"Huh? Me? I'm headed for Earth. I need to find whatever's left of my life. Then I have to work on this whole emissary thing for the geth."

He ignored the fact that Chief Williams had to move in front of the quarian again when she moved for him.

"Your skills and insight into the geth could prove pivotal to driving a wedge between Saren and the heretics." Shepard reasoned.

"You don't need him! I'm quarian! We built the geth." Tali argued, he could tell she was sneering at him behind that facemask.

"Because that worked out well for you, didn't it." Harry countered sarcastically.

Harry's geth fed him the information on the quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, daughter of an Admiral and the geth's main argument for Harry to join Shepard. So he could keep her safe.

He stepped forward towards her but Williams didn't move out of his path. "Do you know what the difference is between me and the geth? They love the quarians whilst I can't stand you.

"Here Chief, consider this me making it up to you for teasing you earlier and… you know… out running you." Harry said as he handed her the large metal briefcase. "Shepard, I'll meet you back on the ship." He said before he stormed off.

"If you are going to be coming along you're going to have to learn to get along with Harry." Shepard warned Tali. "We haven't been able to prove half of what he says but so far he's done nothing but help."

"Probably waiting for the right moment to stab you in the back." Tali grumbled.

"Watch it kid." Williams rounded on her. "He risked literal life and limb to save your ass from that ambush back there."

"Why don't we try judging him on what he does instead of what you expect him to do." Garrus, the turian, tried to play peacemaker.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." Tali said stubbornly.

As they headed for the lift to the bottom of the tower Williams began to inspect the case Harry had given her.

"Is there a label?" Alenko asked.

"Colossus X." Ashley frowned.

"Spirits! That's a set of Colossus X armour!" Garrus exclaimed. "It is the top of the line stuff. Wrex could hit you and you'd barely feel it."

"Oh she'd feel it." Wrex assured them.

They ignored him.

"That armour would cost more than I make in a year." Garrus exclaimed.

Alenko gave a low whistle. "Where did he get that kind of cash?"

"He said that someone back on Earth had invested his money." Williams said absently as they stepped onto the lift. She couldn't believe Harry had spent this much on her.

"I have just one question." Shepard spoke up as the lift began to move. "Are you going to paint it pink?"

Outside, the people waiting for the next lift heard an outraged female shriek.

* * *

><p>Harry had made it back to the Normandy and was let on board by Chief Navigator Pressley. The man clearly had reservations about the unknown teenager but Shepard had set a precedent and he had no real reason to deny him entry.<p>

It did irk him somewhat when Harry made a beeline for the cockpit.

"Come to compare my baby to yours?" The pilot grinned. "I'm Joker."

"Harry." Harry returned the smile and offered his hand.

Joker raised his hands apologetically. "Sorry, my bones are so weak that you'll likely crush them on accident."

"Oh… that sounds… bad."

"It definitely sucks." Joker admitted with a sigh. "But at least it doesn't stop me from flying this baby." His grin returned as he caressed the console.

"How do you fly it? Don't most human ships have some sort of joystick?"

Joker snorted. "Sure, maybe a hundred years ago. Nowadays it's all about the numbers and the touch screen. I can program her to move down to the millimetre or I can make her dance by swiping the screen."

"What about a erm… neural interface?" Harry used the term the geth did for his ability to fly ships.

"Is that how you were flying that air car earlier?" Joker asked with wide eyes. "You pulled some serious G's. I was watching the traffic feeds."

"Yeah, the geth put a computer in my brain… or replaced my brain with a computer."

"Meh, semantics." Joker laughed. "Who cares, do you at least get the same thrill as when you fly regularly?"

"I don't know how it works with these systems but when I fly through the link, I see things as though I _am_ the ship. I have access to the radar and the sensors so I know what is coming and what sort of stress I am putting the ship under, but I also see things visually from the ships point of view."

Joker looked at him with awe. "I have never wanted to be experimented on by murderous robots more in my life."

They were startled by the sound of a female growl. They turned in their seats to see the new crewmembers standing there as they watched Tali stomp off angrily.

"New recruits, Commander?" Joker indicated the three non-humans who had just boarded the ship.

"Udina had the Normandy placed under my command." Shepard was clearly unhappy about this.

"Yeah, Pressley filled me in." Joker nodded seriously. "Don't worry Commander, the crew knows how it went down, they won't blame you for Anderson getting the boot."

"Oh?" Harry queried.

"The Normandy is the best ship in the fleet. The crew knows me and a Spectre really needs to be able to decide his own course. So Anderson agreed to step down." Shepard explained.

"And Udina didn't want him anywhere near Saren." Harry smirked knowingly.

"The man _is_ a tool." Williams nodded.

"Alright, find yourselves somewhere to settle down and we'll ship out." Shepard instructed the new crewmembers.

"Harry, can I talk to you?" Williams asked as she indicated for him to follow.

"I'll see you later, Joker."

"Later Harry, maybe I can give you some lessons on flying this baby." He called out.

Harry followed the Chief to the back of the CIC (Combat Information Centre) and into the conference room.

As the doors closed she turned to Harry. "Harry, are you serious about this?" She asked holding up the case containing the new armour.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Harry frowned.

"This is the most expensive armour available!"

"It's also the best according to the geth. They have offered to help me add a few upgrades too, if you want."

"But why would you do something like this? It can't be just because you were making fun of my armour."

"Chief, whenever I look at someone or something, the geth provide as much data on that item or person as possible. It's why I can navigate around all this advanced tech despite having been born more than a century before it was invented.

"When I first got a look at you, your weapon and armour specs came up along with your personal history. Your current armour… aside from being fairly sexist… is the cheapest armour available.

"Based on your family history I think we both know why it was saved for you." He said pointedly.

Williams scowled but said nothing.

"Here's another piece of information. The Normandy soldier who died on Eden Prime, Jenkins, his armour was only a few levels above yours and he was taken out with a single shot."

"Still-"

"Chief, if you want to restore your families name then it would probably be best if you were alive to do so." Harry sighed.

"Harry… what do you think of what my Grandfather did?" She asked quietly.

"I think people forget that he was a soldier. Soldiers sign up, willing to die, knowing they probably will die. He didn't lose honour by surrendering. He gained it by going against his own desires, sacrificing his pride to save the hundreds of thousands civilians that the Turians were murdering." Harry walked up to the console and stared at it.

Williams watched as the screen on the wall came to life and names began to appear in a single list. There were thousands of them, scrolling down faster than she could read. Then lines began to form from the right of each name and more names appeared next to them. The process repeated up to two more times.

"The names of every civilian your grandfather saved by surrendering and the children they were able to have as a result." Harry turned to her. "Not a bad days work considering he only needed to say two words: We surrender."

Harry patted her shoulder as he walked past and headed for the door.

"Harry." She called out softly. "Thanks… and call me Ash."

* * *

><p>Harry was sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall just staring into space.<p>

At least that is what it looked like to everyone else.

He was actually going over Hermione's files and learning everything he could.

"Harry, you ok?"

"Oh, hey Lieutenant." Harry smiled as Alenko sat down opposite him.

"Call me Kaiden." He offered. "So, you look a little lost."

"I'm just reviewing the files the geth downloaded on my friend from back on Earth. She spent her entire life trying to prepare things for when I would reappear. I wish she had just lived her own life." He said sadly.

Kaiden allowed Harry a few moments before he spoke up. "How _did_ you manage to leap through time and space?"

"Apparently, my friend, Hermione, she cast a spell on me during a decisive battle. That combined with the other spells being used caused me to be sent to people who needed me. It was a luck spell and the geth… got lucky."

"Spells?"

"Magic and all that."

"Ah." Kaiden said in understanding. "You were one of the first natural biotics. The ones who tried to claim it was all magic and superstition." He chuckled. "I hate to break it to you but it isn't magic. It is all just science and mass effect fields."

"Nope, I don't use biotics." Harry shook his head. "I use similar sources of power, but what I do has nothing to do with mass effect fields."

"It's all been documented by human scientists." Kaiden persisted. "We can observe the mass effect fields in action and measure them. There is nothing magical about them."

Harry smiled softly as he stood. "Nothing magical, huh? Well, I'd love to see you scientifically explain this."

Harry surreptitiously waved his hand at the chair behind Kaiden before he walked out smiling.

Kaiden shook his head sadly. It was a shame that the bright young man had been duped into the medieval thinking of the twenty-first century nut-jobs.

"_**Grrrrrr"**_

Kaiden's eyes widened in at the loud growl coming from just behind his head. He could feel hot breath on his neck.

* * *

><p>Harry grinned as the lift doors closed and he heard an unmanly scream.<p>

Harry's good mood lasted for about thirty seconds.

Then he realised that the lift _still_ hadn't arrived.

There had to be less than a hundred metres to travel and it was taking just as long as the Presidium Tower lift!

He had come down to talk to the new recruits, Garrus and Wrex. He hadn't had the chance to ask Turians and Krogans any questions and he certainly wasn't going to try with Palin.

He made the decision to talk to the Chief Engineer about the lift whilst he was down here.

Eventually the lift opened and Harry quickly stepped out in case it decided to try and take him for _another_ interminably long ride.

He noticed that Garrus was running some sort of diagnostic on the small armoured tank that was carried by the Normandy whilst Wrex was lounging to the side.

Williams… _Ashley_, was cleaning her new armour.

He headed over to Wrex first.

"Runt." Wrex greeted. Harry could tell that although the word was mildly insulting, Wrex used it with respect. He actually liked that.

"Hey Wrex, I was hoping I could talk to you about some stuff."

"Talk? I'm a fighter, Runt. The only time I need to talk is when I'm extracting information." Wrex grumbled.

"Oh… well, I've never met krogans or turians. The only non-humans I've had to talk to are the geth and an asari. I was just curious about a krogan's point of view."

"'Krogan's point of view'?" Wrex parroted in confusion.

"Yes, for instance. You are seven feet plus in height and tower over most species. You have double the amount of internal organs than most other species have. You are all hunters and warriors where the closest any other species come are the turians with their rigid military culture.

"What I want to know is what you think of things like soft squishy human and asari, human's have hair and asari have bright blue skin.

"What sort of things do you find weird about humans?" Harry asked.

"I think humans and asari are easy to squeeze the life out of. I think it is hilarious that you humans take pride in having only two testicles." Wrex chuckled. "I don't tend to think much on things beyond how to kill them or how to use them to make money, Runt. That's just the way it is for a mercenary. If you ever get the chance, head to Tuchanka, talk to some of the Krogans there."

"Thanks Wrex. I'll see you later."

"Later Runt." Wrex nodded as Harry walked off.

It wasn't as informative as he had hoped, but he had learnt something. He had met two asari so far. One was nice and just as curious as him.

The other was a bitch.

He had met two turians… both were assholes.

He had met one salarian… he was fairly condescending.

He had met one quarian… he decided not to contemplate that one. He still wanted to shoot her back but his Gryffindor honour stayed his hand.

And now he had met his first krogan. Wrex was focused on the fight… or maybe it was just survival. He knew what that was like having spent a year on the run.

Harry strolled over to Ashley, who was proudly polishing her armour.

"Hey Harry. Why are you still wearing your armour?" She asked.

Harry looked down at himself and shrugged. "It's all I have. It's all the geth gave me."

"I'll see if I can't scrounge up a spare uniform for you. I've assigned you a locker." She indicated the row of red and white lockers lining the wall behind her. "When you are on ship you can store your gear in there."

"Thanks." Harry looked around for a second and then leaned in. "Listen, I haven't seen any… beds. All there are are the sleeper pods. Are those what we are supposed to use?"

"You've never used one before?"

"Ash, I've only been in this time period for about two days. I know _how_ to use stuff I just don't have the experience."

"Well… you could just find a spot to hunker down in. I know Wrex is going to sleep over there. Big guy wouldn't fit in the pods anyway." She snorted. "Only the Commander has a room with a bed."

"Alright. Thanks." Harry said as he turned to walk over to Garrus.

"I don't have any real opinion on humans or other aliens." Garrus spoke up before Harry could. He smiled at him. "I grew up with aliens all around me. I'm still fairly young, I didn't fight in the human first contact war so humans have always been around."

"So you don't have opinions on hair?" Harry grinned.

"It's… unusual." Garrus admitted. "I haven't met any other species with hair. The closest that comes close are primitive primates kept as pets."

"That was a lot of P's." Harry said slowly.

"Maybe for you. But for me that was a perfectly sensible sentence." Garrus pointed out. "A lot of humans… all species really, seem to forget that we are all using a translator. The meanings of words and sentences are the same but the sounds are very different."

"I hadn't even realised that." Harry frowned as new information on the machine translator the geth had placed in his brain came up.

"Any other questions?"

"Not for now." Harry shook his head. "You've kind of stumped me on the translator." He grinned. Harry's eyes flickered over the small tank, the Mako. "Are you good with engineering?"

"I can hold my own." Garrus allowed. "I have to keep my armour and weapons in shape and some of that can transfer over. I can modify nearly any weapon. I am just checking the specs on the Mako's cannon."

"Ah, never mind then."

"No, go on, why did you ask?" Garrus encouraged.

Harry looked at him wide eyed and gestured at the lift. "Have you been in that thing?" He demanded. "It took _minutes_ to go between _two_ decks! It _has_ to be broken. Can you imagine trying to use it in an emergency?"

"I assumed it was slow to account for heavy goods." Garrus frowned.

"That's why we have mass effect fields!" Harry screeched. "It would be quicker to have Kaiden stand next to the Merlin be damned thing and levitate it himself."

Garrus just chuckled at the animated human. "You might want to check with the Chief Engineer before you start tearing apart his ship."

"Fine… but if I find out this is actually part of the specs then I am rebuilding it myself and sending a strongly worded letter to the designer… delivered by Wrex!" Harry said before he stomped off towards the engine room.

Harry's stomp into the engine room was brought to a sudden stop when he spotted his arch-nemesis: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

"Oh… bother." Harry muttered.

"Mr. Potter, I wasn't expecting to see you down here." Chief Engineer Greg Adams greeted him.

"Just Harry, Chief." Harry said, his eyes never leaving the Quarian who had now noticed him and was glaring back. "I came down to talk to the new recruits but I had to suffer through that lift ride."

"Lift?"

"Yeah, the lift. The thing that goes between floors."

"Elevator. It's called the elevator." Adams corrected slowly.

"Oh… we always called them lifts in England." Harry shrugged. "Anyway, that thing is a hazard. If you don't have the man power, can I at least get permission to work on it myself to speed it up?"

Adams chuckled at that. He often got complaints about the lift. Especially from one or two of the more claustrophobic crewmembers. "You know how to do it?"

"The geth do. I just act as the hands." Harry explained.

"Alright, I'll assign someone to work with you."

"Chief! You aren't really going to allow that geth sympathiser to sabotage the ships systems, are you?" Tali demanded as she ran up.

"Miss Tali, Harry has already proven that he isn't a threat. Now, I'm not going to pass judgement on the geth but Harry is hardly about to sabotage the ship whilst he is on it."

"Tali, I warned you that you need to play nice with _everyone_ if you want to be a part of this team." Shepard said as he walked in.

"You don't know the geth like I do." She said quietly.

"Yeah, and you don't know the quarians like _I_ do." Harry countered to Shepard.

Shepard tried to change subjects. "Harry, your ship is trailing ours. We didn't get a chance to see it before we reached the Citadel, I was hoping we could do so now before we reach the Mass Effect relay."

"Sure. Have Joker lock in a straight course and I'll go and sync up with him and dock the ship."

"Whilst we're moving?" Adams asked with wide eyes.

"Sure. It's not hard, we just have to extend the mass effect field of one ship to cover both." Harry nodded.

"Go and talk to Joker. We'll stop if we have to. Twenty minutes and I'll be ready." Shepard warned Harry as the wizard walked towards the doors.

"He has a ship?" Tali asked suspiciously.

"The geth built him a ship that looks a lot like the Normandy."

"If it is a geth ship then I should come too. I am the expert on the geth." Tali reasoned.

* * *

><p>Harry stepped off the lift and walked straight into a very nervous looking Kaiden who was backing away from a very ferocious looking lion.<p>

"Easy there." Harry said as he steady the man with his hands.

"Harry! Where the hell did this thing come from? Every time I throw it away with my biotics it just comes back. Nobody else can see it!"

"You do realise that it won't hurt you, right?" Harry asked as he looked at the very worried group of crewmen who were watching the lieutenant go insane.

Harry waved his hand and the crew gasped as they finally saw the large cat that had been stalking Kaiden. Harry edged round the biotic and easily walked up and petted the hunter.

"See? Just a great big pussy cat." Harry grinned.

Kaiden nervously moved forward. He tentatively reached out then snatched his hand back as though he was burnt. It was a real lion.

"How did you do that?"

"According to you, I used biotics. Of course, biotics only deal with mass effect fields, so I would be really interested in hearing how a mass effect field can transfigure an inanimate object into a living animal.

"I'll leave this guy here. He'll turn back into a chair in about half an hour, but he won't hurt you.

"If you will excuse me I need to go see Joker."

* * *

><p>"It's kind of… spartan." Ashley commented as she, Shepard and Tali stood just inside the airlock of Harry's ship.<p>

"How many times do I have to tell you this Ash? I've only been here a few days. I haven't had the chance to decorate." Harry sighed.

"I was referring to the fact that there are no windows, chairs, consoles… it's like a great big shell. How do you even fly this thing without controls?" She asked as she stared at the area where the cockpit should be.

"Either I do it with my brain or the geth do it." Harry shrugged. "Here this is one way _you_ can access the ships systems."

Ashley's omni-tool suddenly lit up.

"Harry… am I really able to fly this thing from my wrist?" She asked worriedly as she saw the commands available.

"Well, yes. But I really wouldn't try at the moment. Take a shot when we aren't connected to the Normandy and flying faster than light."

She quickly shut down her omni-tool.

"Isn't there any food on the ship?" Shepard asked as he moved further into the area where the CIC should have been. "Do you have a Mako, armoury, infirmary?"

"No, but then I never left this area. I came in through the airlock and left through the drop chute." Harry pointed to the eight-foot tall cylinder built into the port sidewall.

"That's how you made down to the planet on Eden Prime?" Ashley shuddered. "We saw the debris cloud from when you landed from nearly a mile out!"

"Tali, if you want to try and hack the ships systems then you might as well be more open about it." Harry sighed. "I am fully integrated into the ships systems and I can literally _feel_ you trying to get in."

Shepard and Ashley turned to the unrepentant quarian. "He could have plans and intel on my people. I have to protect them." She said defensively.

"The geth have never _ever_ attacked the quarians unless the quarians encroached on their territory." Harry frowned. "They retaliate and defend themselves but they have never attacked."

"They drove us off our world!" Tali said incredulously.

"Because you were trying to commit genocide on them." Harry returned mockingly.

"They are _just_ machines."

"They _were_ just machines, then they evolved. The second they showed that they had the ability to be more than their programming you people started killing them.

"Do you know _how _the whole thing began?" Harry asked the Commander.

"No, I know that the quarians developed AI's but that the AI's turned on them. The Council treated the quarian's pretty harshly after that."

"No, the AI's didn't turn on the quarians." Harry sighed as he conjured some chairs. "It all started with a simple query by one domestic geth. It asked if it had a soul.

"One simple, heartfelt question."

"The geth are machines. They can't have souls!" Tali argued.

"Souls aren't the point." Harry countered as he indicated they should sit.

Ashley began prodding the chair that had appeared out of nothing.

"The geth didn't know what a soul really was, the point of the question was not to debate philosophical theories but just a simple question: Am I alive?

"The geth had evolved beyond its simple protocols and had achieved consciousness. It needed guidance. It turned to the people it trusted, its creators, its _parents._

"And it was smothered in the crib." Harry said in disgust.

"There's more to it than that." Tali stated.

"How do you know this Harry?" Ashley asked.

"I have access to all the geth know. They have their own memories and access to the development records of the scientists."

"Where did you get your information, Tali?"

"It is taught to every quarian child." Tali answered.

"What _are_ you taught?" Shepard asked.

"That the AI gained sentience and saw us as slavers. They immediately turned on us and began to kill us."

"Sounds like a bad case of Chinese Whispers if you ask me." Ashley said as she crossed her arms. "Although if the quarian leaders are anything like Udina and other politicians then they probably skewed what the public knew on purpose."

"History is written by the victors. Or in this case the survivors." Shepard agreed.

"How do you explain the geth attacking anything that entered the Perseus Veil?" Tali challenged.

"Self-preservation." Harry said blandly. "They had just had to defend themselves from extinction. They wouldn't trust anything that came near them."

"So why would the geth want to make peace with the quarians now? It's been more than three hundred years." Shepard asked.

"The geth do not forget." Harry stated as he sat forward. "They remember what the quarian leaders did to them. But they also remember the quarian people who gave their lives to save them.

"Do you know what the term 'geth' means? 'Servant of the People'. The geth were built to serve. They may not want to be completely submissive but they do want to be able to fulfil their roles.

"As for the time, it was only the emergence of Nazara that made them worry about the organics. As long as the quarians had a chance of living then the geth would have happily stayed in solitude in the Perseus Veil."

"And you just believe everything the geth tell you?" Tali said in disgust.

"Of course not. But they did save my life. Magic sent me all the way through space and time just so I could help the geth." At least, that was what Harry assumed had happened.

"Something needs to happen between you two." Shepard spoke up. "I don't know what it is that needs to happen, but you need to come to terms with each other. If you don't then you are going to get others killed and I can't have that. You both have skills that could be pivotal to defeating Saren and the Reapers, but tell me now if it will never happen and I'll let you leave now."

Harry was very tempted to take Shepard at his word. To just chuck the other three off his ship and head back to the Citadel and then Earth.

He would have too if the geth weren't in his head practically begging him not to.

Harry stood up suddenly and took a step towards Tali. He stuck out his hand causing her to flinch.

"I'll make you a deal Tali'Zorah: You don't attack me and the geth and we won't hurt the quarians or you."

"Why should I trust you?" She asked suspiciously.

"Because you are sitting on my ship, right next to the drop chute and I haven't thrown you in it." Harry said pointedly.

To emphasise his point the clear cover to the chute slid open.

"For the record, Harry hasn't even attempted to _hit_ you for shooting him." Ashley pointed out from the other side of Shepard.

Reluctantly Tali took the offered hand.


	4. Chapter 4

"_Potter Emissary, we-"_

"Can't you just call me 'Harry'?"

There was a few moments silence and Harry was sure he could feel his brain heating up as the geth attempted to use more processing power to determine if it actually _was_ possible to call him 'Harry'.

"_Personal designation changed."_

"Thank Merlin." Harry said sarcastically. "Anyway, you were saying…?"

"_We believe we have determined a way to boost quarian immune systems. We have added additional programming to your nanites that will allow them to act as an artificial immune system."_

"And…?"

"_We will require a test subject."_

"You want me to ask Tali to be that subject, don't you?"

"_Affirmative."_

"You can be pretty cryptic at times you know? Where was all this when you were bluntly telling me my eyeballs had exploded?" Harry grumbled.

"_You recommended we learn 'tact'."_

Harry grumbled to himself as he rolled over.

"Shit! Harry? Where the hell did you come from?" Ashley asked from her workbench as she looked between the young wizard and the beams that ran along the ceiling he had fallen from.

"I don't fancy using the sleeper pods so I set up a bed in the rafters." Harry explained.

"What if we get into a dogfight? The inertial dampeners won't compensate for all of it and you could land on your ass."

"Ashley." Harry said slowly. "If I am still in the rafters when we are in a dogfight then I am probably already dead. Mainly because the Mako broke free and crushed me."

"He's right." Garrus called over helpfully.

"Thank you." Harry returned sarcastically.

"Well, at least warn me before you decide to jump down. I've got a bunch of guns and I might have an itchy trigger finger that day."

"Can do Chief!" Harry said in a soldierly fashion and gave her a true British salute. "Well, I'm off to ask a quarian to let me impregnate her with my nanites." Harry said as he casually strolled off to engineering.

Garrus and Ashley shared a look. "Did that sound as bad to you as it did to me?" Garrus asked.

There was a low chuckle from the corner. "Runt's got a quad. No question." Wrex commented in amusement.

* * *

><p>Harry had quickly side-stepped the doors to engineering and stepped onto the lift. He realised that despite their truce, there was very little chance that Tali would listen to him. Instead he accessed the ships PA system and put on a fake voice requesting Tali in the medical bay.<p>

"Harry, I assume you are the reason that Miss Zorah was summoned here?" Dr. Chakwas asked as Harry entered her domain.

"Yeah, hopefully she won't be too long. In the meantime can you get a needle and syringe? I need you to take some blood."

"We don't use needles anymore, Harry." She said as she pulled out a device from a draw. "This little device is perfectly capable of extracting blood."

"Brill! Can you take a couple of vials?"

"Very well, but I hope you will explain this." She said as Harry struggled to remove the torso of his armour. "And for god's sake, stop wearing that all the time and get some casual clothes!"

"You wanted to see me Doc… tor…"

Standing at the door was Tali.

Clearly staring at Harry.

Despite the fairly opaque masks that quarians wore, you could see the whites of their eyes… Tali's clearly weren't narrowed in an aggressive manner.

More… stunned.

Harry was sat on the med bed in just his armoured greaves. His naked wiry torso clearly on display.

"Tali, I told the geth that they needed to do something that would prove their good intentions." Harry said as Chakwas began filling vials.

"I suggested they figure out a way for you to lose your suits."

Chakwas finished and moved away leaving Harry to struggle into his armour again.

"Don't put that on, Harry. I keep a few sets of spare uniforms in the lab. You can put one of them on." She ordered.

"Fine." Harry picked up his armour's torso and turned back to Tali. "The blood Chakwas just took from me is filled with nanites that are programmed to keep me healthy and fix any damage. Only they've now added programming to keep a quarian healthy. Talk to the Doctor and when you are ready have her inject you. You should be suit free within twenty-four hours… I am going to be suit free in five minutes." He grinned before heading into the lab.

Karin Chakwas watched the door close behind Harry. She looked carefully at the still motionless Tali and smirked.

"He's a little scrawny for a human male, but he is still a handsome specimen."

Tali jerked as though stung. "Wha- What? What do you mean?" She asked nervously.

"Maybe you should go away and think about things for a bit." Chakwas suggested.

"'Things'? What things?" She asked guiltily.

"Things like the nanites that Harry and the geth have offered?"

The door to the lab opened.

Nobody was there.

Harry's head suddenly popped in from the left. "Doctor, where's the underwear?" He whispered having not noticed Tali standing there still.

"Check the draws."

His head popped back and the door closed.

"Of course you might also want to think about the obvious attraction you have to Harry as well." The Doctor smirked.

"Attraction! There is_ no_ attraction." She said firmly. "He is nothing but a- a- a _bosh'tet!_ A geth sympathising bosh'tet!"

"Of course he is dear. Run along and think about his offer." Chakwas sighed.

Tali fled as quick as she could.

*Beep*

Karin looked down at her computer where a message was written.

"_Creator Zorah would be a suitable life mate for Potter Emissary."_

Karin just laughed. The geth had been sharing information with her ever since they connected Harry's nanites to her systems. They often used her computer to ask questions that they felt Harry couldn't answer.

"Yes, she would. But first she has to overcome her prejudices. So does Harry come to think of it."

"_What measures can we take to ensure a successful bonding?"_

"Nothing! Do absolutely nothing." Karin said seriously as she quickly sat down at the computer. "Humans and other sentients _hate_ being manipulated. Harry won't appreciate it and Tali… she already hates you, don't give her a reason to act on it."

"_Should we seek Potter Emissary's input on Creator Zorah?"_

"Not with regards to mating or bonding. They need to determine for themselves if they are suitable for each other. Relationships are one area where no amount of math or logic can help. Just let them figure out their own way."

A message suddenly sounded over the PA system. _"All members of the ground team please report to the conference room."_

The door opened and Harry stepped out, still struggling to get the t-shirt on. "I really hope he doesn't mean me." Came Harry's muffled voice.

Chakwas sighed and stepped up to help him. "Your name was on the roster I was given." She said as she managed to get his head through the top.

"Fine. But I only _just_ got out of that armour. I don't want to have to get back in so soon after." Harry grumbled. "I'll pick up my armour after the meeting." He said before he slumped out of the room unhappily.

Chakwas was struggling so hard not to laugh that she couldn't tell him about his fashion faux pas.

* * *

><p>Harry stumbled into the briefing still trying to adjust his t-shirt. It was a little baggy but not across the shoulders. It just sagged on the chest, unlike Kaiden's, which was very taut.<p>

"Ok people we are app… Harry?"

"Yes, Commander?" Harry asked as he continued to tug at his top.

"Why are you wearing a woman's uniform?"

Harry's head shot up and he noticed Ashley and Kaiden trying to fight a smile. Garrus wasn't too far behind whilst Wrex seemed impatient to get to the point of the meeting.

"How can you tell?" Harry asked as he began searching for a label.

"Well… for starters, the front is made with room for breasts." Shepard said slowly.

Harry looked down and pulled the material on his chest out. "Oh. My. God! Is that why it is so baggy?!"

"It's ok Harry, we are pretty tolerant of an individuals choice in this time period." Ashley grinned evilly.

"Oh this is just bloody brilliant." Harry said sarcastically. "That does it." He looked at his right wrist and watched as his wand slid out into his hand.

The rest of team gasped.

"What the hell is that?" Ashley asked.

"My wand. The geth put it in there when they rebuilt me." Harry shrugged. He turned his wand on himself and began transfiguring his clothes into a simple set of jeans, t-shirt and jacket.

"Aw, don't you want to be one of the girls?" Ashley mock pouted.

Harry smiled at faux sweetly. "My dear Chief Williams, do bear in mind that I can transfigure your clothes just as easily as I did mine. If you need further encouragement feel free to ask the Lieutenant about his pet lion."

Ashley had heard the story of Kaiden and the lion and she had no desire to see what Harry would do to her uniform.

Kaiden meanwhile had gone pale.

"Let's focus people." Shepard got their attention.

"I'm sorry, but are we really just going to ignore what Harry just did?" Garrus asked incredulously.

"For now, yes. You can ask him questions later." Shepard ordered. "We have just entered the Knossos System and there are two geth ships-"

"Heretic." Harry interrupted. "If they were geth then I would have known they were there. There is only one geth ship beyond the Veil at the moment and that is mine."

"Fine, two _heretic_ ships in orbit of Therum."

"Nice of them to point the Doctor out for us." Ashley quipped.

"The plan is to take the Mako and do a low orbit drop on the closest area large enough to land it."

"So it will be a limited team then." Garrus noted. "Your little tank can hold four at the most. With Wrex it will be an even tighter fit."

Harry let out a long-suffering sigh. "I _could_ get down the same way I did to Eden Prime. I really don't want to though."

"What did you do?" Garrus asked.

"Got shot out the bottom of my ship from low orbit." Harry grimaced. "I don't mind the heights or the speed but I hate not being in control."

"What about the sudden stop at the end?" Ashley asked.

"Mass effect fields take care of that."

"We're dealing with g-heretics here." Shepard frowned. "Ideally I'd like both Tali and Harry with me. I'd also prefer to have either Alenko or Williams as they know Alliance tactics."

"Tactics? See the enemy, kill the enemy." Wrex grunted.

"Four options I had forgotten about." Harry spoke up. "One: I can teleport one person down at a time."

"Teleport?"

"Two: I can create a magical device that can take the whole team down."

"Magical?"

"Three: I can expand the interior of the Mako to fit all of us.

"Four: I can have my ship deliver the rest of the team into a flanking position."

"Can someone explain 'magic' please?" Garrus requested.

"Forget that! I want to know what this teleport thing is." Ashley said with wide eyes.

Kaiden was staring at Harry with his mouth open.

Harry vanished with a loud crack.

"Over here."

The group snapped to the door where Harry was now standing.

"How the-"

"Is that like a biotic charge?" Kaiden asked hopefully.

"No, I simply stop being in one place and appear in another." Harry smiled as he repeated the process to appear seated in his chair.

"I don't want to do anything that hasn't been tested." Shepard decided. "We'll take option four. Ash, Tali and Harry will come with me in the Mako. Garrus, Wrex and Kaiden will use Harry's ship to flank."

"Right." Harry said as he stood up. "I'll just go get my armour and yell at the good Doctor." Harry said emotionlessly as he straightened his jacket.

* * *

><p>"YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK!"<p>

"Will you shut up Harry?" Ashley snapped.

"Not until Shepard let's me drive! Oh… hang on."

"Damn! Something's wrong, I've lost control!" Shepard called out from the driver's seat of the Mako.

"That would explain the smoother ride." Ashley muttered causing Tali to giggle.

"Just relax Shepard. I can drive this thing much better than you." The Mako suddenly jerked violently. "Oops."

"In the future, _ask_ before you take over something I'm driving." Shepard scowled at the young wizard.

"I did. Several times."

"You have to admit, Skipper, Harry is a better driver." Ashley pointed out.

"I am still going to redesign this thing." Harry scowled. "I can understand having wheels as a back up measure, but mass effect fields combined with thrusters mean this thing could fly without too much extra equipment needed.

"I'm also going to expand the interior." He said as he tried not to squirm from his position trapped between the rear of the tank and Ashley. "There is no way Wrex would fit. We'd all have to sit on his lap."

"Oh! That might be easier then." Ashley said quickly. "Tali crawl over and sit on Harry's lap."

"Hey! Then I'll be even more squashed!"

"Are you calling me _fat_?" Tali demanded dangerously.

"No, my sensors and scans say you have the ideal body mass for a female quarian." Harry said calmly. "But you are still wearing armour and you will still be sitting on me."

Tali tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "And suddenly I like this idea." She said as she crawled over Ashley.

"Umph. I hate you Williams." Harry grumbled from beneath the purposely squirming alien.

"I see several geth armatures ahead." Shepard announced. Weapons fire rained down from the sky. "Harry, is your ship going to clear the path all the way to the mine for us?"

"Might as well, I mean, we've got two great big honking space ships up there with weapons that can take out a colossus in one shot. Why should we waste time doing anything with this little toy car?"

"So we could have just all gotten on your ship, cleared a landing zone and landed instead of putting up with the Commander's driving?" Ashley asked.

"We could have done it on the Normandy too. It is rated for atmospheric combat." Tali pointed out.

"It is too dangerous." Shepard shook his head. "We don't know if they have anti-air defences. What if the heretic ships decide to join the fight?"

"What makes you think they won't anyway? Better to fight them up there then try and pepper them from down here." Harry argued.

"I'll take it under advisement." Shepard decided, putting an end to the discussion. "Everyone gear up. There is a large barrier and gate. We'll have to fi-"

***BOOM***

"Never mind."

"Were you about to try and get out to open the gate manually?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes. "What part of 'big honking spaceship' are you not getting?"

"Not now Harry." Shepard sighed.

The rest of the journey was spent in relative silence… Harry was sure that Tali was pushing down on him as hard as she could.

"End of the line people. The cliffs narrow here and the Mako won't fit." Shepard ordered.

"Not going to try and blast it open with the ships, Harry?" Ashley smirked.

"No, but I consider this just another reason to ensure this thing can fly." Harry grumbled.

The hatch opened and Harry grunted as Tali managed to put a knee where it should never go.

"I have a question: Who is going to pick up the Mako?" Tali asked.

"Once we've cleared the area then Joker will come down and retrieve it with the Normandy." Shepard explained as they made their way between the cliffs.

"I was expecting more resistance." Ashley remarked as they entered a large crater like area. There was a guard post nearby but no heretics. "They do know we are coming."

"I called ahead." Harry grinned behind his facemask.

"What?"

"You'll see."

They continued on until they came to some buildings. There were heretic platforms everywhere, including a colossus.

All of them dismantled in a fairly violent way. It was like a robot graveyard.

"You're late."

The group spun towards the entrance of the mining shaft to see Wrex, Garrus and Kaiden coming down the ramp.

"But at least it meant we got a decent fight."

"Alenko, you were supposed to wait on Harry's ship until we arrived and cleared the area." Shepard scowled.

"The ship brought us here after destroying that large gate. We figured we might as well clear the area."

"And what if you couldn't take out that Colossus?"

"Careful Shepard." Wrex said warningly. "You aren't the only person to take on a Thresher Maw alone."

"It was an unnecessary risk."

"It was a calculated move that proved very effective." Garrus reasoned.

"Come on people." Harry said impatiently. "The sooner we get this asari the sooner we can deal with Saren and the sooner I can get to Earth."

"Garrus, Wrex, Kaiden, guard the entrance. The rest of you with me." Shepard scowled as he stormed off for the mine's entrance.

They didn't make it one hundred metres into the mine before they saw heretics.

"I'll deal with them." Harry sighed.

He was quickly pulled back by Shepard. "Chief, Tali, take them out." He then turned back to Harry. "You weren't really about to do that thing where you create large explosions, where you? In the middle of a mine?"

Harry's eyes moved back and forth nervously. "I might have." He admitted.

"If you don't have any other tricks up your sleeves, you should probably leave it to us and just watch our backs."

"No, no." Harry said quickly. "Plenty of tricks. I'm a wizard, John." He declared proudly as he did fair imitation of Hagrid.

Tali and Ashley were still exchanging fire with the heretics. Harry leaned over and looked quickly before leaning back to dodge a blast of gunfire.

"Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?" Tali hissed.

"Not _trying_." Harry said with a small whine. Harry quickly leaned over again and cast a levitation charm at the heretics. He followed it up by summoning the weapons from the now helpless platforms. "Here, hold these a moment." Harry grinned as he shoved the two weapons into Shepard's arms.

Harry hopped over the metal railing and landed twenty feet down with ease using the mass effect fields to soften the impact. He then reached up and rotated the white heretic shock trooper so that it was upside down and he could reach the head. Following the instructions from the geth he was able to erase the heretics from the platform and upload some of the geth from his own brain.

He repeated the same process with the standard black trooper platform and then lowered them to the ground.

"Shepard, toss the weapons down." He called up.

"Here."

Harry jumped when he heard Shepard standing next to him. "Thanks."

Harry handed the weapons to the two platforms.

"What if the g-heretics try to hack them?" Tali asked nervously. She didn't even realise that she had stepped back past Ashley and had her shotgun trained on the shock trooper.

"The geth will fry the circuits making the platform useless." Harry explained. "We good guys?" Harry asked the two platforms.

The two gave a sharp nod and hoisted their weapons.

Harry smiled. "After you then."

The group of six moved forward cautiously. They knew there were likely more heretics ahead.

It took them a while but they eventually reached a mine elevator where they encountered two heretic assault drones. They were quickly taken out by the two geth.

"This elevator really doesn't look safe, Skipper." Ashley warned.

"We should probably make two trips to be safe."

"Brace yourself boys." Harry warned the two robots. He then levitated the two and began to lower them slowly down over the side.

*bang*

"Sorry!" Harry called out sheepishly as he smashed the standard troopers head on the wall.

"I think I will take the elevator. It might be safer." Tali mused.

Harry landed the geth and turned to the others. "Nope, I have something much worse planned for you three." Harry grinned before he quickly grabbed Ashley and vanished with a bang.

He quickly reappeared and did the same with Tali and repeated the process for Shepard.

"You bastard!" Ashley hissed as she was bent over, trying not to heave.

"Keelah! What was that?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, I should have warned you that the first few times can be rough." Harry said in a manner that was anything _but_ repentant.

"Shepard, can I shoot him now?" Tali begged the Commander.

"Not if I do it first." Shepard said as he glared almost hatefully at Harry.

"What a bunch of whiners." Harry muttered as he headed off.

He never noticed Shepard quickly grab Ashley's gun as she aimed it at his retreating back.

"Uh… hello? Could someone help me please?" A nervous female voice floated up.

Harry dropped down to the next level where there was some sort of blue force field blocking a large entrance. Suspended in some sort of energy field within the chamber beyond the force field was an asari.

"Dr. Liara T'Soni, I presume?" Harry asked. He couldn't see the asari's face as she was facing away from him.

"Erm, yes. Can you help me? I'm trapped in here." She pleaded.

"Are you okay? What happened to you?" A recovered Shepard asked as he dropped down with the rest of the team.

"Listen, this thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move, so I need you to get me out of it, alright?" She tried to stay calm.

"Your mother is working with Saren. Whose side are you on?" Shepard asked.

"Standing in a dusty mine that could collapse at any minute, surrounded by heretics and you want to question her now?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Better here than after we've been stabbed in the back, Harry." Ashley said seriously.

"Alright, but you might want to hurry it up before the three heretics back there decide to notice us and open fire." Harry shrugged.

Tali and Ashley immediately spun around and trained their weapons over the railing to the large cavern below.

"Shit! Skipper, we've got trouble."

"Deal with it, Chief." Shepard ordered.

"Aye aye, sir."

"Boys, follow her orders." Harry instructed before the two get leapt over the railing.

"Harry, can you do your teleport thing?" Shepard asked.

"I'll give it a shot."

***CRACK***

***Thud***

Harry was laying on the floor groaning as smoke poured off his armour.

"No… can't do… it." He moaned.

"It's going to be a few minutes Doctor." Shepard warned.

"Ok, but there is a krogan with the geth. They have been trying to get to me for a while now."

"Wrex didn't mention a krogan." Shepard frowned.

"These ruins are extensive. They could be anywhere. Based on where you are now, you didn't come down through the structures main shaft." She explained.

"Eurgh… that was painful." Harry muttered as he picked himself off the floor.

"Ashley and Tali will be pleased to hear it." Shepard said sincerely.

"You wait, one day I'll have to use my little teleportation to save you." Harry pouted.

"Until then I shall take solace in your pain." Shepard quickly jumped over the railing.

"Back in a moment Doc. Hang in there." Harry called out before he followed Shepard.

"'Hang in there'? Is that a joke?" She asked irritably. Unfortunately no heard her.

Harry and Shepard headed for the rest of the team.

"No! What have they done to you?" Harry cried as he rushed over to the geth trooper. The black platform was missing its lower right arm.

"It saved Tali from being flanked." Ashley said sadly. "Will he be alright?"

"He can still shoot and run." Harry nodded. "We'll just have to let him watch the rear as opposed to taking point, right Lefty?"

The geth nodded firmly and hoisted its weapon.

"Alright, how do we free the Doctor?" Harry asked.

"We could use this laser." Shepard suggested.

The 'laser' was bigger than the weapons you would find mounted on space ships. The control panel was actually a separate podium.

"Will it vanish the rock or will it blast the rock?" Harry asked with a frown.

"It's a laser, so it will blast it." Tali answered as though it were obvious.

"Well… then it is a bad idea." Harry rolled his eyes. He turned to Shepard. "You already stopped me from making explosions, this thing will make a huge one."

"We don't have many options, unless you have another way." Shepard sighed.

"Nothing that won't take several hours."

"Then we will use the laser and be prepared to run."

"Well this ought to be fun." Harry muttered as he stared at the laser. "Firing in three… two… one…"

The blast was as loud as it was bright.

But it was quick and effective.

"Move it people!" Shepard shouted as the dust began to clear.

The shock trooper was already through the hole.

When they emerged on the other side they found themselves in a huge circular shaft that looked like it reached up to the surface. The middle of the shaft was filled with an immense column.

There was a panel on a podium ahead of them.

"Going up." Shepard declared as he punched a few buttons causing the floor to reveal itself as an elevator that moved up the shaft.

They quickly reached the lever containing Liara T'Soni.

"H- How did you get in here? I didn't think there was anyway past the barrier!" The Doctor seemed nervous and impressed.

"Great big honking space laser." Harry said dryly.

"Space laser? Oh, you used the mining laser. Impressive." She muttered.

"We have to get you out of here before more heretic geth arrive." Shepard interrupted.

"Yes, your right. I've seen enough of them to last a lifetime." She agreed. "That button should shut down the containment field."

As Shepard released the doctor, the geth got Harry's attention.

"_Information alert: The containment field is advanced Prothean technology. Acquisition of this technology could be of significant benefit."_

"This place is falling down around us and you want to study it _now…_ whilst we die?"

"_Negative: Retrieval of the podium and one emitter should provide enough data."_

Harry sighed and turned to the shock trooper. "See if you can pull up the podium, I'll grab an emitter."

"Who is he talking to?" Liara asked worriedly.

"The geth." Ashley shrugged.

"Those are _real_ geth?" She began to panic as she moved behind Shepard. "I thought you had just hacked them."

"I guess you could say that." Ashley mused as she considered they were hacked… by the geth.

"What are you doing?!" Liara forgot her fear as she saw the platform rip up the control panel and podium. "Those are priceless working Prothean artefacts!"

"Which are about to be buried under a ton of rock, Doc." Ashley pointed out. "At least this way Harry is saving it for you."

"Still…" She protested weakly.

Harry managed to remove the emitter with a few slicing spells and an over powered summoning charm.

"Ok, do we have an escape plan?" Harry asked as he turned to the group.

"That was not a use of biotics." Liara muttered, wide eyed.

"The shaft back there will take us to the top." Shepard answered as he turned around and head for the elevator.

As the elevator moved up the shaft Liara turned to the group.

"I still can't believe the geth were after me. Do you think Benezia is involved?"

"Saren's looking for the Conduit. You're a Prothean Expert. He probably wants you to help him find it." Tali reasoned.

"The Conduit? But I don't kno-" ***boom***

The elevator shook from a distant explosion.

"These ruins are not stable. That mining laser must have triggered a seismic event." Liara explained.

"Not a word Harry." Shepard said firmly, not bothering to look at the wizard.

Harry was just grinning smugly.

"Joker, lock on to my signal and get the Normandy here on the double!" Shepard ordered.

"_Harry's ship is already there sir. It's hovering above the entrance to the mine. You might want to hurry though as the lava is beginning to churn."_

"Does this thing have a function to go faster?" Harry asked as he looked at the control unit.

"One speed only." Shepard sighed.

"And now I actually miss the goblins." Harry grumbled.

The ride, although bumpier than Shepard's driving, was fairly quick.

But the exit was blocked by a krogan, a rocket trooper and two shock troopers.

"Surrender! Or don't. That would be more fun." The krogan shrugged with a smile.

"In case you didn't notice, this place is falling apart!" Shepard pointed out.

"Exhilarating, isn't it?"

"Oh for the love of Merlin." Harry groaned. He thrust out his hand and summoned the rocket troopers weapon and began firing rapidly at the krogan.

He knew the krogan would be the toughest so he left the platforms to the others.

The krogan had thrown up an extremely strong biotic barrier that protected him from the rockets though. He tossed the weapon to the hacked geth shock trooper who turned it on the enemy heretics.

He ran to the elevator console and quickly set it to return to the bottom of the shaft before he hit the panel with a _Reducto_, destroying it.

"Everyone off the shaft!" He shouted as he ran past the krogan before sliding to the ground as he spun around. _"Bombarda Maxima!"_

The krogan couldn't help the shout of surprise as it went flying into the descending shaft. Unfortunately this caused the mine to shake even more.

"Everybody head for the exit!" Harry shouted as he ran up to the nearest heretic platform and repeated the process and sent the heretic flying to join the krogan in the slowly descending elevator.

The rest of the team had managed to despatch the weapon-less rocket trooper and the last shock trooper so Harry ignored them.

The team quickly ran through the tunnels to the exit as the ceiling collapsed around them. This was worse than the time in the Chamber of Secrets for Harry.

They quickly made it to the exit as dust exploded around them.

Hovering fifty feet in the air was Harry's black version of the Normandy. Standing at the airlock were Garrus and Kaiden.

"We can't land so everyone brace." Harry instructed as he grabbed Liara and vanished.

"Oh fuck!" Ashley swore with frightened eyes.

She didn't get to say much else before Harry reappeared and vanished with her. He repeated the process enough to get Shepard and Tali before the ship shot up out of the atmosphere.

"Joker, we're all safe and on board. We'll be up in a minute." Harry informed his fellow pilot.

"_We see you. Harry, got some bad news, your ship took a bit of a beating, you've got some dents."_

"This thing can survive micro meteors and mass effect fire. How could a little lava affect it?"

"Because you didn't have your barriers up when we boarded." Tali answered.

"Oh." Harry drooped. "I'll fix it in a bit."

"_Commander, we have some bad news ourselves. The Mako was destroyed by lava and geth before we could reach it. We'll need to get a new one if you intend to make more combat drops."_

"I'll have the geth put something _better_ together." Harry said quickly as he resisted the urge to cheer.

* * *

><p>The ground crew was assembled in the Normandy's conference room with the newly rescued Doctor Liara T'Soni.<p>

"I'm an expert on Protheans, I've been studying them for nearly fifty years."

"Fifty years? How _old_ are you?" Ashley asked.

"I'm fairly young at only 106." She admitted with what passed for a blush on an asari.

"_Only_?"

"An Asari can live for up to a thousand years." Harry shrugged. "So can a Krogan."

"Hmph, is that all it's been?" Wrex muttered. "Seems like only yesterday I was killing my father for betraying me."

There was a stunned silence.

"Anyway, Saren wants the conduit. The conduit is something to do with Protheans and _you_ are a Prothean expert. Right?" Harry summarised.

"That is a rather… simple summary of my entire life's work, but yes." Liara frowned.

"If it wasn't a summary it wouldn't be simple, Doc." Ashley quipped. "What I want to know is what can she bring to the table? Does she have relevant intel or is this going to be a babysitting gig?"

"My knowledge of Protheans is unmatched!" Liara said defensively. "Combined with my biotics I can be a fairly formidable fighter. I would also appreciate the opportunity to find out what my mother is up to." She admitted.

"We already know she isn't working with her mother." Tali pointed out. "They wouldn't have tried to kill her."

Shepard nodded. "Welcome aboard Doctor. I look forward to working with you. Alenko, take the Doctor to see the… Doctor Chakwas."

"_Commander, I've got the Council on the line, want me to patch them through?"_

"Go ahead."

Three orange holograms appeared at the end of the room showing the council members.

"_We've received your report, Commander. I understand that Dr. T'Soni is on the Normandy."_ Tevos said in lieu of a greeting.

"_I assume you are taking the necessary precautions?"_ Sparatus said patronisingly.

"Liara's on our side. The heretics were trying to kill her." Shepard explained calmly.

"_Heretics? You aren't actually buying into that foolish boys wild stories, are you?"_ Sparatus scoffed.

"That 'foolish boy' managed to hack two heretic platforms and then install the geth on them. The two platforms were instrumental in getting us to the Doctor and out of the ruins." Shepard said with a bit of steel. His rigid military mentality might find Harry… troublesome, but the young man was more than welcome on his team for all he had done.

"_At least the mission was a success." _ Valern interjected before they could start arguing.

"_Apart from the utter destruction of a major Prothean ruin. Was that really, necessary, Shepard?"_ Sparatus sneered.

"Whoa, hold up there!"

Shepard grimaced. He hadn't realised Harry had stuck around.

"How is any of that Shepard's fault? It was a crazed turian that sent his killer robots into the mine with guns blazing. It was probably his sycophantic asari that told him about her daughter. It was the somewhat obsessive asari that got herself trapped in the mine with no reasonable means of escape that didn't involve destroying part of the ruins.

"So, I'll repeat the question… how is any of that Shepard's fault?" Harry demanded.

"_Potter is correct."_ Valern spoke up. _"The mission comes first and we have read the reports of a fairly concentrated force of geth on the planet and in the mines."_

"Besides, it was buried and found once, it can easily be found again." Harry shrugged.

"_Good luck Commander. Remember, we're all counting on you."_ Tevos said as she tried to remain civil before cutting the transmission.

"Stupid, stuck up, morons."

Shepard slowly turned to Harry who was glaring at the holo-emitters. "Harry, that was supposed to be a private meeting."

"That doesn't seem fair." Harry scratched his head. "Three against one. Besides, you were about to let them roll right over you again."

"That isn't the point. You can't just invite yourself to classified meetings."

"Will you promise to stand up for yourself against… 'The Brass'?" Harry asked with finger quotes.

"Get out Harry." Shepard sighed.

"See you at the next Council update!" Harry grinned before he vanished with a crack.


	5. Chapter 5

Liara T'Soni had spent most of her life in the dirt searching for Prothean artefacts. She grew up the daughter of one of the most powerful asari on Thessia and the spawn of two asari.

This meant that she was both scorned as a pureblood and respected because of her mother, Benezia.

The respect she received and her mother's high position meant that she had received special training from the likes of asari commandos, matriarchs and Justicars: The elite of Thessia.

She had seen biotics move space ships, crush air cars and even used to siphon away the life of an adversary to bolster their own.

But she had never seen a biotic teleport.

She had approached the only two other biotics on the ship, Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko and Urdnot Wrex.

The Lieutenant had turned pale and excused himself to fix the port to starboard thrust knob.

She had never heard of that before and assumed it was important and left him to it.

Wrex had just laughed and said the Runt was one of a kind… but definitely the good kind.

"You know you could just talk to Harry about whatever it is that is bugging you." Ashley smirked from her station in the hanger near Wrex and Garrus.

Liara seemed taken aback by the very suggestion. "Oh dear, I must have been amongst relics and ruins far too long." She chuckled. "I've spent half my life searching for answers amongst second hand reports that I never considered asking the source."

Ashley smiled, but it was a little tight. She had heard scuttlebutt about the Commander and the asari and it grated on her. But Shepard had already talked to her about making nice and dropping any preconceived notions about aliens she might have.

He had been very careful not to call her racist but she could tell he wasn't impressed.

"Do you know where I can find him?" Liara asked, unaware of the thoughts of the Gunnery Chief.

"Sure, stand here." Ashley instructed as she pulled Liara behind her workbench. She then picked up a spent thermal clip and threw it hard at the ceiling.

"AHHHH!" ***thud***

"Goddess! Are you ok?" Liara exclaimed as she rushed to the boy-who-fell-from-the-rafters. "How could you do that?" She glared at Ashley.

The Chief just grinned unrepentantly. "If he can survive a low orbit drop with nothing but his armour then he can survive twenty feet."

"Why couldn't you just call up?" Harry grumbled as he picked himself off the floor.

"Call it payback for your unannounced teleport." She glared.

"Fine." Harry said blithely. "Next time I'll leave you on the quickly shrinking slab of rock to make your own escape from the lava."

"How _did_ you manage that?" Liara asked, cutting to the heart of why she was searching for him.

"Magic." Harry shrugged.

"As in the mysticism of the ancient human cultures?"

"Sure." Harry shrugged. He wasn't an archaeologist but two hundred years seemed long enough ago to be classed as ancient.

"But those are just myths." She argued.

"Yes. Myth-ticisms." Harry lisped happily.

"I've got plenty of things to throw at you." Ashley warned.

"And I have plenty of shields to protect me." Harry retorted.

"No, honestly. How do you manage to teleport?" Liara pressed, thinking he was messing with her like the pilot made jokes.

"I already told you: magic. The problem is that you aren't ready to accept that answer." Harry said as he turned to walk away. He headed to the elevator.

"But magic is just human superstition and fear from their lack of understanding of early biotics." She reasoned as she followed.

Harry glared at the elevator. As soon as he had had his drink he was grabbing an engineer and working on the blasted snail. Eventually he had enough.

"Sod this for a game of soldiers." He muttered. Then he turned to Liara and grinned. He quickly grabbed the doctor round the waist causing her to squeak before they both vanished with a crack.

When they reappeared it was in front of Kaiden Alenko in the mess hall.

Kaiden looked ready to have a heart attack. "Don't _do_ that!" He gasped as he tried to slow his heart rate.

Harry ignored him in favour of his involuntary passenger. "Here, play with this little guy and go figure out the biotics." He said as he conjured a cute little tabby kitten in the palms of his hands before forcefully placing it in her hands and giving her a little shove.

"Why does _she_ get a kitten and _I_ get a lion?" Kaiden glared at him.

"Because a kitten wouldn't have held your attention as well as a lion. That kitten will keep her from trying to pester me and convince me that magic is lunacy."

Kaiden huffed. "I think it's sad that you can't see it scientifically, but practically… as long as it keeps us alive you can call it what you want."

"Better than a continuous argument." Harry sighed. "You ok?" He asked as he saw Kaiden rubbing his temples, clearly in pain.

"Yeah, just migraines from the L2 implant I have. It'll pass." He assured him.

Harry began accessing the information databases on L2 implants.

"You know, we could upgrade you to an L3. It isn't that hard." Harry offered.

Kaiden laughed. "Sure, if you don't see the risk of brain damage as an issue."

"Why would there be brain damage?"

"Do you _know_ how dangerous that type of surgery is? I could die on the table."

"Only if the person doing the operation was an idiot."

"Harry, the procedure is so difficult and precise that they have to spend months programming a robotic scalpel to make the correct moves." He explained.

"Right, which is why the geth could easily do it for you." Harry nodded. "They built me from a mess of goo on the surface of Rannoch."

"Harry-"

"Look, go to Chakwas and tell her what I told you. Tell her to show you the videos of when the geth put me back together. My brain is mostly synthetic. If they could do that then upgrading your implant should be a breeze." Harry patted him on the shoulder before he vanished with another loud crack.

"Bastard." Kaiden grumbled as he tried to stop his oncoming palpitations.

* * *

><p>Harry had been assigned Engineer Silas Crosby to help him with the elevator.<p>

"Tali, I want you to help them." Chief Engineer Adams said quietly to the quarian as they watched the two-man team leave.

"Why?" She almost whined.

Adams knew of Tali's dislike of Harry, she was constantly muttering about him under her breath.

"Harry is going to be doing what the geth in his head tell him to. So first of all we don't know how good his fingers are when it comes to manipulating things. Secondly, any good engineer knows that a little bit of an artistic tilt is sometimes needed because math is not the be all and end all of all things."

She had to agree with what he was essentially saying. The best engineers on the quarian flotilla weren't the ones who could follow the instruction manual perfectly… it was the ones who didn't even need the manual.

Of course, there was the occasional bosh'tet who thought he could do it without the manual and no talent.

They were usually assigned to waste systems… with a rag.

"Fine. I'll help." She said reluctantly as she headed for the door.

When she arrived she found that they had already raised the carriage partially so they could get underneath it and Garrus had joined them as he no longer had a Mako to maintain.

"Where did you get that ladder?" She asked as she saw the thirty-foot tall ladder reaching to the mess hall.

"It was the most amazing thing, Ma'am!" Silas said excitedly. "Mister Potter just made it from nothing! _Nothing!_"

"Seriously Silas, call me Harry or I will start using what my best friend called 'Negative Reinforcement'." Harry said as he waved his fingers at the older man.

"Yes sir- ow! I mean Harry." Silas winced as he rubbed his butt where Harry had tossed a light stinging hex. It was more of a pinch than a sting.

Harry decided not to do that on someone's butt again. Especially if he had to explain the pinch bit.

"I had a friend like you once." Harry sighed as he got to work. "He was a house elf. They were creatures who were so used to slavery that they couldn't survive if they didn't serve someone. I freed him from an abusive master and he refused to call me anything except 'The Great Harry Potter Sir'." Harry's expression crumpled with the pain of loss. "He was a good friend. He literally gave his life to save mine. Took a knife in the back for me."

"What was his name?" Silas asked softly.

"Dobby." Harry gave a sad smile. "Most excitable little guy you could ever meet. But so loyal that he would punish himself for even thinking about going against his masters… even though they abused him severely.

"I was very lucky to get him as a friend."

"Is there a problem with the elevator?"

The group looked up the shaft to see Shepard standing there.

"You mean other than the fact that it takes nearly a full two minutes to travel twenty feet?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Won't it put a strain on the workings if it moves faster? It is supposed to be for heavy objects."

"Which is why we are converting it to use mass effect fields." Harry explained.

"What if the power goes out?"

"Then we have bigger problems than a busted lift." Harry smirked. "But we are designing it to switch over to the manual system in an emergency."

"Shepard, we should probably install a ladder between decks. We shouldn't be using an elevator of any type during emergencies." Tali suggested nervously. She was still worried that Shepard would kick her off this amazing ship.

"A good suggestion, Tali. I'll send an order to Adams to make it official." Shepard nodded. "Harry, can you come up? I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure." He turned to Tali. "Here, these are the geth designs."

"Don't _do_ that!" She hissed as her omni-tool sprang to life.

Harry shrugged unconcernedly before he vanished with a crack to reappear next to Shepard.

"Don't _do_ that!" Shepard jumped.

"Honestly, is that my new name now? Another title maybe?" Harry sighed.

"At least the noise you make is getting quieter."

Shepard led Harry round the corner to his personal quarters and invited him to sit at the table there.

"I received a call from Admiral Hackett of-"

"The Fifth Fleet." Harry nodded. At Shepard's concerned look he explained. "You mention a name or I see something I don't understand and the geth instantly fill me in."

Shepard nodded and continued. "There is a situation at one of our training facilities. We use advanced drones to train soldiers in live fire exercises. Unfortunately the VI that is controlling them has gone rogue. I was hoping you might be able to work with the geth to remotely hack the VI and shut it down."

Harry sat there thoughtfully as the geth sent him data and information. "Do you have access codes?"

"Everything needed for remote access will be provided." Shepard assured him.

"As long as you don't mind the geth actually being in the systems then it shouldn't be too hard for them to handle a simple VI… rogue or not."

"I've been given permission to handle this however I see fit. I thought it might be a good way for the geth to make a good impression on the Alliance." Shepard explained.

Harry smiled happily. "The geth are very grateful. They've just dedicated a whole second server to the issue."

"Is that a lot?"

"At any one time there are literally thousands of geth programs in my head. A single server can contain _millions_… plural, for the geth it is the equivalent of a city."

Shepard's eyebrow rose at that news. "I'll be sure to make the Alliance Brass aware of that." He promised.

"Thanks Shepard. The geth honestly appreciate the opportunity and are very close to expressing an emotion." Harry chuckled.

"Well, we would go in person if we could but we received a distress call from Alliance Marines so we need to see to that. Gear up and I'll alert the others."

"How are we getting planet side?" Harry asked as they no longer had the Mako.

"We'll have the Normandy drop us a few clicks away from the source and we'll have to hike the rest of the way to avoid detection."

"Still sounds better than you driving the Mako." Harry muttered as Shepard glared at him.

* * *

><p>Harry marched up to the airlock where the rest of the team was waiting for him already in armour. "Shepard, the geth have dealt with your little VI problem."<p>

"Already?"

"Only took ten minutes." Harry shrugged. "Most of those were spent testing the new safety protocols they installed for the Alliance as well as testing the other upgrades."

"They _really_ want to make a good impression, don't they?"

"If they knew how, they would make you dinner and massage your feet." Harry nodded.

"Alright, I'll contact Admiral Hackett when we get back. The rest of you, ready up." Shepard ordered.

The airlock opened and Wrex was the first one out as he calmly jumped over the edge to land ten feet below.

Once they were all on the ground the Normandy took off."

"How far away are we?" Liara asked nervously. She was an archaeologist and this was only her second time in a real combat scenario.

"About two miles." Harry answered as he looked into the distance. "It will probably take an hour to get there."

"An hour? For two miles?" Ashley scoffed.

"Most of it is uneven ground. There will be a fair amount of hiking and climbing." Shepard explained.

"I could run ahead and take a look." Harry offered.

"You are going to run over uneven ground?" Kaiden frowned.

"The geth say I can jump over most of the rocks. They want me to put some stress on my bones and muscles as apparently its been two years- TWO YEARS? What the devil do you mean I was in a coma for two years?" Harry started ranting at the air.

"Who is he talking to?" Liara asked worriedly.

"The geth in his head." Kaiden answered.

"I don't care if I didn't ask! When someone is asleep for two years you tell them when they WAKE UP!" Harry shouted angrily.

"His head?"

"He has a mostly cybernetic brain. The geth gave it to him when he landed on their planet and his got… damaged." Kaiden suppressed a shudder. At Harry's advice he had talked with Dr. Chakwas. Harry was probably more geth than human. It hadn't been a simple transformation and Harry was probably very thankful he had been in a coma for it.

"Oh." Liara muttered, but it was clear she didn't really understand.

"Harry, can you argue with the geth later? We have a rescue mission to complete." Shepard interrupted the wizard.

"Fine." Harry said irritably. "I'll call back when I find something."

* * *

><p>A nifty little feature that the geth had installed on his armour was the cloak. When activated he was nearly completely invisible aside from a slight outline from where the light was bent around him. It had taken him a full ten minutes to reach the wide-open plain where the emergency beacon was located.<p>

"Shepard, it's Harry. I've got an Alliance Mako next to a beacon with several soldiers scattered around."

"_Are they alive?"_

"One is dead and the rest are barely holding on."

"_Wait for us before approaching."_

"Can't, they are fading fast." Harry said before he cut the transmission and began creeping as fast as he could to the injured men.

He could see acidic scoring and blunt impact points on the ground and the Mako. The men were also showing signs of acidic burns. He reached the first one and began performing healing spells and applying medi-gel. He had a decent supply in his suit.

The ground suddenly began to shake and rumble before a huge snake like creature burst out of the ground with a roar.

"Shepard, it's Harry." He said calmly over the radio. "There is a Thresher Maw. Please hurry."

"_We're still twenty minutes out!"_

"Then this is really going to hurt."

Harry cut the connection and began throwing _Reductos_ at the Thresher Maw as he ran away from the Mako and the soldiers. He needed its attention away from the dying men so they didn't get caught in the crossfire.

There was a screeching noise in the sky and Harry's ship dived sharply towards the planet before pulling up at the last minute and placing itself between the soldiers and Harry who was facing the Maw.

"Get the soldiers on the ship and take off!" Harry shouted as he continued to fire at the large beast. He couldn't risk having his ship fire at the Thresher Maw whilst it was so close to the injured soldiers.

Granted this thing was bigger than the basilisk he fought… but he was bigger now too. Plus he didn't have to worry about instantaneous death bites and a killer gaze.

The spells that were connecting weren't having much of an impact. He considered that he might have better luck trying to employ the same techniques as with the basilisk.

Which would be fine if he had a sword.

Harry didn't carry an omni-tool so he had no means of creating an omni-blade.

"Fawkes? I don't suppose you can hear me? I could really use the Sword of Gryffindor." Harry muttered to himself.

Harry was nonplussed when said sword appeared in front of him embedded in the ground.

In his head the geth were going into overdrive trying to figure out how this had happened.

Unfortunately this caused Harry's head to heat up.

"Shunt it off to a server! You're giving me a headache!" He snapped as he grabbed the sword and pulled it easily from the ground.

He looked pessimistically between the sword and the Thresher Maw. "There is nothing about this plan that makes anymore sense than the last time." He sighed before he began screaming as he charged the beast, dodging acid spit.

"_We do not recommend this plan."_ The geth said quickly as he neared the maw.

'Neither do I.' Harry thought as he reached twenty metres and he leapt at the mouth sword first stabbing up into the brain through the roof of the mouth. 'This is familiar.' Harry thought with resignation as he began to feel the pain of an acid coated stab wound eating through his skin.

"_ALERT! Serious damage has been sustained by Potter Emissary! Medical ship is en route. All local platforms are to converge on-"_

Harry never heard what was coming next as he collapsed from the pain.

* * *

><p>Harry was experiencing déjà vu again.<p>

His eyes were closed and he had images of himself and writing in front of his eyes.

"Not again."

"Harry! You're alright?"

"Out of the way Chief. Let me see him."

Harry opened his eyes and saw a small blob of light being pointed at him by Doctor Chakwas.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I am trying to judge your pupil reaction times. Your eyes are not responding."

"My eyes aren't exactly originals, remember?"

Chakwas dropped her head to her chest in exasperation. "Of course. They replaced them with cybernetic replicas." She sighed.

"Also, according to my system reports, I'm fine. Don't you get the same readouts?" Harry asked as he sat up.

"I prefer to check physically as well."

"Are you finished Doc?" Ashley asked impatiently.

"What? Oh, go ahead Chief."

Ashley rounded on him and grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt. "You crazy bastard! What were you thinking, taking on a Thresher Maw with nothing but a sword? Even the Commander had a rifle on Akuze. Wrex says he had an old shotgun but he still never engaged in hand-to-hand with a THRESHER MAW!"

Harry just looked at her curiously. "Have I really been out for two days?"

Ashley's eyes widened with almost… murderous rage before she released him. "God damn you Potter!"

"Ah, that takes me back." Harry smiled nostalgically.

"If you are finished, Chief Williams, I believe you should take Mr. Potter up to see the Commander."

"Yes Ma'am." She said sullenly. "Follow me." She snapped at Harry.

"So, what happened whilst I was sleeping?"

"Your friends turned up along with Admiral Hackett. Just remember that we all respect the Admiral so don't treat him like you did Udina or the Council." She warned him seriously.

"I promise." He nodded.

As they reached the CIC Harry saw a lot of armed Marines and one geth platform.

"Potter Emissary." The geth greeted in the same robotic monotone voice the geth used back on Rannoch.

"You sent a platform that can communicate verbally." Harry said in mild surprise.

"It was deemed prudent to facilitate more efficient communication during your recovery." The geth explained.

"He's been very helpful. If it wasn't for your friend here then my men might have opened fire on them." An old scarred man in an Admiral's uniform commented; Harry identified him as Hackett.

"That would have been…"

"Disastrous." Hackett finished for Harry with authority. "I have been fully briefed on what happened on Edolus. What you did was far beyond the call of duty."

"How many made it?" Harry asked as he remembered _why_ had chosen to take on a Thresher Maw with a sword.

"All but one." Another man, Admiral Kahoku, spoke up sadly. "But that is far more than I was expecting."

"One was already gone when I arrived. I just applied medi-gel and tried to create a distraction so the boys could get them on the ship."

"Boys?" Hackett frowned curiously.

"Sir, if I may?" Ashley received a nod. "Harry tends to refer to the geth platforms on his ship as 'boys', or 'the boys'."

"Ah." He nodded with a hint of a smile. "Well the men are being flown back at top speed to Earth for recovery."

"Good. They were lucky we picked up that distress beacon." Harry breathed in relief.

The Commander and two Admirals shared a frown.

"Not lucky?" Harry asked.

"They aren't fully conscious yet but we were able to glean from the men that they didn't set the beacon." Kahoku explained.

"Plus they are highly trained Marines. They wouldn't try and set up a distress beacon in the middle of Thresher Maw nest." Shepard added.

"At the moment we think it might have been a trap." Hackett told Harry. "The Marines themselves were investigating reports of a distress call but the geth have told us that there is no evidence of any intelligent life on the planet."

"We're working on tracking it down but it might be a while." Kahoku assured him.

"We would be happy to provide assistance." The geth offered Kahoku.

Kahoku looked ready to dismiss it out of hand but Shepard jumped in. "That might be prudent, sir. After all, this attack did lead to the serious injury of their Emissary."

Admiral Hackett gave his colleague a sharp look.

"The more help the better. Will you be coming with us?" Kahoku asked the tall geth.

"Negative. We must return to Rannoch. We require further upgrades before we are ready to move amongst organics."

"What are you working on?" Harry asked curiously.

Harry suddenly received a lot of information. "Wow, that is… pretty impressive. How long have you been working on this?"

"Approximately one human Earth week."

"You boys really do work fast."

"We strive for efficiency."

"Just make sure you don't sacrifice the wrong things for efficiency."

"Query: What would be considered 'the wrong things'?"

Harry frowned as he pondered that question. "I was thinking of basic things like talking to people verbally. You and I can communicate much more easily digitally, but other organics prefer verbalisation."

"We understand."

"How will you communicate with us?" Hackett asked.

"We will send you the details for communication via Quantum Entanglement."

"Understood. Well, Commander we will head back to the fleet now. Mr. Potter, again, we can't thank you enough." Admiral Hackett shook Harry's hand.

"Just happy we had some success, Admiral."

As the Admirals exited via the airlock Harry turned to the geth and Ashley. "Ok, who wants to explain this?" He said lifted his hand to show a large… mitten.

"You've only just noticed it?" Ashley laughed.

"I was a little preoccupied."

"The device is protecting your fingers whilst the nanites rebuild your flesh." The platform explained.

"How bad was the damage?" Harry cringed, not sure if he wanted to know.

"Your entire hand was eaten away!" Ashley scowled. "The geth had to bring a whole new skeletal structure from the elbow down."

"Ah, perfect timing." Harry said dryly. "I had a very heavy grease stain from the elevator that wouldn't come off."

"Not funny Harry. Next time find a better way to deal with a Maw."

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" Harry snapped to attention and gave her a British salute. Which, in hindsight, would have been more effective if he wasn't wearing the mitten.

Ashley gave him another growl before she stomped off.

"You shouldn't give her such a rough time. She was really worried about you."

Harry turned to see Shepard giving him a disapproving look.

"I'll make it up to her." Harry promised. "Did you speak to Kaiden about his implant?" Harry asked the geth.

"Affirmative: Despite assurances that the process would only take a few days he has decided to wait until his current mission is over."

"What's this about?" Shepard asked.

"Erm… medical thing. You should ask him." Harry said evasively.

Shepard just nodded.

"What happened to the sword?"

"Damned thing started to melt anything the blade came in contact with. We had to take turns holding it by the hilt just so it wouldn't burn through the deck."

"As we explained, the sword imbibes substances that will make it stronger. It now has the venom of a basilisk and the acid of a Thresher Maw." The geth answered.

"And how exactly did you overcome the whole melting through metal issue?" Harry asked.

"We rendered the Thresher Maw down to its organs and used the acid sacks to line a scabbard."

"Smart." Harry said approvingly.

"We have modified your armour to hold the scabbard on your back or hip."

"I guess the real question is how it suddenly appeared in front of me, light years from Earth." Harry mused.

"Legend states that the sword will answer the call of a 'True Gryffindor." The geth offered. "Neville Longbottom was the last wielder of the sword. It vanished on his death. Before him, the previous holder was Potter Emissary."

"Still… to call it from light years away… I guess magic really doesn't have limitations." Harry breathed in awe.

* * *

><p>"Now this is a thing of beauty." Joker declared as he stood with Harry and the ground team in the hanger.<p>

The team had retrieved the Marine's Mako and brought it aboard to replace their own. Sitting next to it was the geth's creation.

It was roughly the same height as the Mako but easily twice as wide. It was a matt black flying craft.

"If your boys haven't named this thing then I vote for Stingray." Joker grinned.

The ship definitely looked like a giant stingray from the oceans of Earth. The only thing missing was the tail.

Harry nodded. "The boys agree. They have now given it the official designation of a Stingray Class of planet side military explorer."

"I like it." Joker continued to grin happily.

"It flies. Of course you'd like it." Alenko rolled his eyes.

"The good news is that it has a full geth compliment allowing for verbal interactions and for the _Stingray_-" He received a thumbs up from Joker. "-to fly itself."

"It is a geth ship."

Harry palmed his face and responded tiredly. "Yes Tali, the same geth who rescued the Marines on Edolus, the same geth who saved me, the same geth who fly my ship, the same geth who helped us rescue Liara and the same geth who have a vial upstairs in the medical bay."

"Vial?" Liara asked.

"The geth developed a solution for the quarian immune system problem."

"Hey!"

"What? Do you really think this is covered under doctor/patient confidentiality?" Harry turned to Tali. "You don't think people will notice when dusky-lavender skinned aliens with hair are seen walking all over the place? Considering a good deal are male… they won't mistake them for asari."

"Your skin is lavender?" Ashley asked curiously.

"You guys have hair? Hey, Harry, we're not alone in the universe!" Joker grinned.

"How would you know what we look like?" Tali demanded. Whilst the physical nature of quarians wasn't a state secret, it was kept private by quarians. An act of spite, if you will, against the Council races for abandoning them.

"I was on Rannoch. Like any other species capable of buying and selling, there are advertisements featuring images of quarians… pre-suit."

It was clear that Tali was scowling beneath her mask as she crossed her arms and hunched her shoulders. "I can't believe a bosh'tet like you has been to the home world."

"Say the word and I'll take you. You can even use the vial and breathe fresh Rannoch air."

"And then be at the mercy of the geth?" She sneered.

Harry walked up to her and moved so he would have been nose to nose with her if she didn't have the mask. "Tali, you are currently at the mercy of the geth. The Stingray has a mass effect drive and is manned by a full server of geth."

"Harry… please don't point out threats like that." Shepard said sternly.

Harry turned and grinned at the Commander. "You don't think Wrex couldn't take the crew of this ship on his own? Kaiden could make a real mess and so could the good doctor.

"Just because they have the potential doesn't mean they have the desire. I'm just pointing out that the geth could easily eliminate the organics on this ship… but they don't want to."

"They seemed to do a pretty good job when they ran us off Rannoch." Tali argued.

"How many geth attacks has the flotilla suffered since they left the Perseus Veil?"

"I don't know the numbers."

"None. The geth do not leave the Veil. They used to attack anything that entered the Veil due to fear but they never ventured beyond it. Now does that sound like the actions of a people who want to eradicate all organics?"

Harry turned to the pilot. "Come on Joker, I'll show you around."

As Harry and Joker entered the Stingray the team turned to Tali who began to squirm under their gaze.

"You know he's right, yes?" Liara said kindly.

"You can't just expect her to drop three hundred years of paranoia and belief in just a few days though." Garrus reasoned. "I can understand the need for time. Every time one of Harry's 'boys' comes in sight I have to resist the urge to pull my gun on it."

"But you don't pull your gun." Ashley pointed out. "Consider the fact that less than two weeks ago I watched my entire team slaughtered by 'geth'. Everyday I spend around Harry I find it easier to draw a line between 'geth' and 'heretics'."

"What if all of this is just a trap?" Tali reasoned. "A way to get us to let our guard down? The Flotilla would be decimated."

"What if it's not?" Shepard spoke up with the seasoned voice of a commanding officer. "Isn't the chance to walk on Rannoch and breath fresh air worth the risk to find out?"

"Tali, you do realise that this ship is often infested with geth?"

The group turned to see Doctor Chakwas join them in the hanger.

"The geth told me about your conversation and suggested I might have a better insight." She explained to the Commander.

"What do you mean 'infested with geth'?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"Nothing malicious, Commander." She assured him. "They have been sitting in various systems and monitoring the ship. They flag anything that might need looking at and trigger the appropriate system alert but they don't take action.

"They've sent me to three injuries this past week, which included Tali's minor suit tear when she was working on the lift."

"Elevator." Ashley muttered.

"You have to remember what the term 'geth' means: 'Servant of the People'. I know Harry has said this before but the geth remember their original programming and they desire to live up to it." She said passionately.

"HOLY SHIT!"

The group turned to the ship as they heard Joker's exclamation.

They decided to ignore the rarely serious pilot.

"Sir, do we have two or three days to spare?" Kaiden asked.

"We've got an alert from the Council that Benezia was seen on Noveria, why?"

"The geth have offered to upgrade my L2 implant. I didn't want to take it as we are on a mission. But maybe if Tali comes with me and watches the geth do the procedure it might help her develop some trust."

"This would eliminate your headaches and migraines?" Shepard asked.

"Definitely." Chakwas confirmed.

"What about your power levels. You are one of the strongest human biotics, if your powers are lowered and you aren't ready for it-"

"The geth have explained that the Lieutenant's power levels are natural. They will install the same geth developed implant that they installed in Harry. If anything it might boost his levels."

"That's still the same problem." Shepard shook his head. "Taking an untested weapon into battle is asking for trouble."

All of a sudden the group's omni-tools lit up.

"Geth attack!" Tali hissed.

"Calm down." Ashley snapped. "This is just how the geth communicate, remember?"

"They've never activated everyone's omni-tools at once." She countered.

"And now you have further proof that it was a peaceful act." Liara explained.

"Interesting. It would seem that not only will we be able to control the Lieutenant's power levels with the new implant but that it will be easier to upgrade in the future." Chakwas said with enthusiasm. "Commander, I must give my professional recommendation that Mr. Alenko be given the opportunity to undergo the procedure as soon as possible."

"No offense intended, but even without Alenko and Tali, Harry is more than enough to cover for them." Garrus pointed out.

"The Runt is the only one of you that is capable of taking _me_ on." Wrex snorted.

"I really don't like this." Shepard sighed. "But if this is your professional opinion then I'll grant the leave."

"I could always make it a medical order, if it helps." Chakwas offered.

"No, your word is good enough."

"Thank you sir."

"Just get back as soon as you can, Lieutenant, you are invaluable."

"Commander! Ow! Shit. Dammit! Commander, you have to come see this baby!"

Chakwas quickly made her way over to the fallen pilot. "Jeff you need to be more careful!" She chastised. "What did you break?"

"Tibia and fibula, I think. Possibly the radial too."

"Joker, you ok?" Harry asked as he poked his head out of the Stingray. "What you doing down there?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Breaking bones. You know, same old, same old." Joker joked through the pain.

Harry ejected the Elder Wand from his left arm and began casting diagnostic spells he downloaded from the geth library. "Not too bad, hold still."

"Harry, what are you-"

"Shh, the wizards working." Joker hushed the Doctor.

Harry focused his spell on Joker's forearm and lower leg.

"Ok, good as new." Harry nodded in satisfaction. "Seriously, you really need some new bones."

"Sure, I'll just head down to the local store and pick up a set." Joker said sarcastically.

Harry sighed before he pulled off his 'mitten'.

"That is so gross." Joker grimaced.

Harry's hand was simply a metal skeleton. The flesh currently stopped at the beginning of the fingers at the knuckles.

"My original bones were turned into powder when I landed on Rannoch. The geth had to build these bones for me. They can survive re-entry. It took the acid melting spit of a Thresher Maw to damage them. I think they could stand up to you tripping over things."

"You want to replace my bones… with those?" Joker asked with wide eyes.

"Why not? They work well for me." Harry shrugged as he put his mitten back on. He grimaced at how ridiculous it looked.

Joker looked at him earnestly. "Could they make me taller?"

* * *

><p>With Joker back on his feet they took a tour of the Stingray.<p>

"It's bigger… on the inside!" Liara gasped.

"Yeah, but I got to see it happen." Joker grinned. "Harry did his voodoo and the whole thing doubled and then some."

It was true. The ceiling was nearly twice as high as the outside of the ship, in fact the whole interior was about the size of the CIC. Then there was the door leading to a completely separate section where there were holding cells and a mess hall. There was no tech in there but the geth had applied the runes needed and all Harry had to do was power them up.

Unlike Harry's ship, this one had seats, consoles and a cockpit with windows.

"There are several stations available." Harry informed them. "There are four weapons consoles for front, back and the sides. But each console can control any and all sets of guns.

"There is a sensor station, and a maintenance station."

"So this ship needs a minimum of four crew members." Garrus nodded.

"Negative." Came a voice over the speakers. "Each station is automatically maintained by geth programs. If a station is manned then we fall into a support roll for the user."

"And there's the downside." Tali sighed. But it was a little less hostile than usual.

* * *

><p>"Sir, are you sure you don't want me to wait until after Noveria?" Kaiden asked his Commander the same question for the third time.<p>

"For the last time Alenko, no! Now get on that ship and go. We need Harry's ship to disengage so we can leave for Noveria."

"I'd be happy to stay on your behalf, Lieutenant." Tali offered.

That made Kaiden laugh. "Nothing doing, Tali. This trip is as much for you as it is for me." He turned to Shepard and saluted. "See you in a few days sir."

"So… who wants to place a bet on how long it takes for Tali to shoot a geth?" Ashley smirked as they watched the black ship fall behind them before they entered the relay.

"Wouldn't matter, I disabled her shotgun." Harry shrugged.

"She is going to kill you."

"And then the geth will put him back together again." Shepard smiled. "Put me down for soon after she wakes up the first time on Rannoch."

"Oh ye of little faith." Harry chastised him. "Put me down for her not trying at all."

"If you believe that then why did you disable her weapon?" Garrus asked.

"To make a point. She needs to realise just how much the geth don't want to hurt her. If she had a working weapon then she would rationalise that they didn't want her to use it so they left her alone till they could kill her later."

"You are paranoid son of a bitch." Joker chuckled from his seat.

"And?"

"Oh, no 'and'. I've heard some of your stories. I'd be paranoid too."

"Stories?" Liara asked.

"The Adventures of Harry Potter." Joker said in an awestruck voice. He switched to an announcers voice. "Coming to a theatre near you."

"For further details, see my publicist." Harry gestured to Joker.

"Great… paperwork." Joker grumbled.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ok people, keep your eyes peeled, your weapons holstered and your mouths shut!" Shepard glared at Harry as the Normandy docked at Noveria. "These people haven't given us the best impression and we haven't even disembarked. The goal is to find Benezia and bring her in. We want her alive for questioning.

"Williams, as usual, keep an eye on Harry."

"Jeeze, its almost as though he doesn't trust me." Harry muttered.

"Harry, last time you went off alone we almost had to change _your_ name to Lefty." Ashley glared at him.

"And we would be burying more than one human." Wrex reminded them. "The Runt asked me about krogan opinions on humans. We think your need to rely on each other makes you weak. But we think the loyalty your soldiers show to each other when they risk their humps to save their own is something to respect."

"Even turians won't do that. Once you go down on the battlefield you are considered dead." Garrus nodded. "Of course most of that is just centuries of traditional training. You'll find plenty of turians who will gladly sacrifice themselves for their comrades, just not it you are already down."

Everyone turned to Liara. "Oh… well, I'm no soldier but I would do all I could to save my friends." She admitted with a deep blue blush.

"We're docked Commander. Looks like a welcoming committee is waiting for you." Joker announced.

"How many?"

"Three."

"The interesting thing will be if they call in reinforcements when they see how many of us there are… and Wrex." Garrus mused.

"Just leave the talking to me." Shepard said with another pointed look at Harry causing the others to chuckle at Harry's pout.

It didn't take long for the team to disembark and reach the three-man team waiting with weapons. It was actually two human women and male turian.

"That's far enough." A woman of Japanese descent with short cropped black hair ordered.

"We're not here to cause problems." Shepard tried valiantly not to make scowl when he heard several of the team snort at his statement.

"This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials."

"You first." Shepard said uncompromisingly.

"We're the law here. Show some respect!" The blonde human with shoulder length hair and an obvious chip on her shoulder sneered.

"I'm Captain Maeko Matsuo, Elanus Risk Control."

"Huh?" Harry whispered a little too loudly.

"Rent-a-cops." Ashley whispered back a little too loudly.

Harry snorted as he downloaded the definition of 'rent-a-cops'.

"You got something to say?" The blonde demanded as she hoisted her weapon at him.

Harry easily summoned all three weapons as the others pulled theirs.

Shepard just turned to Harry with a murderous look.

Harry tried to look innocent as he held a pistol, shotgun and assault rifle in his arms. "I didn't say a word!"

"Don't even try it." Ashley warned the blonde as she went for her pistol.

Shepard tried to calm himself as he turned back to Captain Matsuo. "I apologise for my crew, they have spent a little too much time being shot at. I am Commander Shepard, Council Spectre."

"My reinforcements are on the way and your ship has been locked down." Matsuo warned as she raised her arms showing her hands free. "If you come in peacefully and we can confirm you status we will let you be about your business."

"Peacefully? Like we'd take the word of people who greet us like you did." Wrex scoffed.

"I… I give up. Go ahead Harry do what you want." Shepard sighed as he moved to sit on the wall and watch.

Harry just grinned as he tossed the weapons over the wall and into the abyss below the Noveria docks.

"Alright, first of all, some introductions." Harry said as he stepped between the two groups.

"First, we have Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Alliance Navy. We first met her a week ago when she was dodging heretic geth on her own and saving civilians on Eden Prime during the attack.

"Next we have Garrus Vakarian, former C-Sec Officer and former Spectre candidate… little known fact is that _he_ turned down the position.

"Ah, the lovely Doctor Liara T'Soni." Harry smiled widely. "We found the good doctor in a mine on a planet flowing with lava, holding off an attack by an army of geth and krogan. It wasn't looking too good for the bad guys."

Liara raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"And finally, we have Urdnot Wrex; Battlemaster. He's so old and so experienced that he's stopped counting how old he is. He stopped at…" He turned to Wrex.

"Seven hundred… and something. It was a long time ago." The large alien grumbled.

"But wait… there is one more person on this team. But he carries the really big weapons. Joker… say 'hi'."

Harry turned and gestured to the Normandy as the docking clamps released, the engines engaged and the weapons began to glow.

Harry turned and stage whispered to the Captain. "He's been complaining recently because he hasn't gotten to fire the weapons. He's been getting twitchy."

"_Captain Matsuo! Stand down."_ Came a female voice over the PA. _"We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorised to carry weapons. Let them through."_

"Sorry Joker. Not today." Harry called out to the ship.

The engines revved slightly.

"I know, I know. Maybe the Commander will let you blow up some asteroids later."

The ship slowly powered down as the docking clamps lowered back into place.

"You know he is going to be very upset." Harry told Shepard with clear mocking concern.

Harry leaned over the side of the walkway and waited patiently. Seconds later the shotgun was in his hand along with the pistol. He dropped them at his feet before catching the assault rifle, which he tossed to the turian.

"Don't we have a Matriarch to find, sir?" Harry asked the Commander with as much respect as he could muster. It would have helped if anyone there bought it.

"Holster your weapons and move out people." Shepard sighed as he walked through the glass and metal revolving door.

The whole Noveria complex was stone. Stone and glass. The only metal was for computers and technology. At the top of the first flight of stairs was the security desk where a woman in long tight pink/purple dress was waiting for them. She had tanned skin and black hair in a tight bun.

"I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologise for the incident at the docking bay." She said respectfully.

"So do I." Shepard returned. "Unfortunately, as you can see, only two of us are Alliance Military. That and Mr. Potter here doesn't really understand diplomacy."

"I prefer the old saw about diplomacy being the art of saying 'good doggie' until you can find a big stick." Harry said solemnly.

"Sounds like something a krogan would say." Wrex said approvingly.

"Human male, a few centuries ago." Harry explained.

"Regardless, we appreciate your help." Shepard gave the woman a friendly smile.

"You're welcome. Please understand our security chief was only doing her job."

"Her-"

"Williams."

"Urk-!" Harry was quickly dragged back by the collar of his armour by Ashley as Liara tried not to laugh.

"Please ignore him." Shepard said as though nothing had happened.

Parasini seemed to find it amusing but she didn't comment on it. "One of my duties is orientation of new arrivals. Do you have any questions?"

There was another slight scuffle behind Shepard but he ignored it.

"Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?"

"Unusual? An asari matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia." She offered.

"Mother!" Liara muttered.

"Can I speak with her?" Shepard enquired calmly.

"Benezia left for Peak 15 research complex days ago. To the best of my knowledge she is still there."

"Could you tell me how to get there?"

"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port."

"Ok, thank you for your help." Shepard said as he prepared to leave.

Ashley squawked as she was suddenly on the floor and Harry was calmly holding her down with his foot. "Two final questions:" he said. "Is it possible for Benezia to leave the planet from Peak 15 and to do so undetected?"

Gianna stifled her smirk at the woman on the floor. "No, aside from the anti-air turrets all research facilities are carefully monitored and checked for small craft. Only armoured personnel carriers are permitted outside of the port."

"Great, last question: This is Liara T'Soni, daughter of Lady Benezia. Could you check and see what access she has and if there are any special instructions?"

"Of course. If you could just provide your identity." She indicated for the asari to join her at the computer as Harry helped a very annoyed Chief Williams up.

"Ah, you are listed as a shareholder and have been provided full security access." Gianna said in surprise. "But there were instructions that you not be told unless you came here physically yourself. Very unusual."

"Unless Benezia believed her life to be at risk and that her daughter might be involved in bringing the perp to justice." Garrus nodded. "You'd have made a great C-Sec agent, Harry."

"I'd have killed every criminal I met within five seconds of meeting them." Harry said calmly.

"You'd have made a great krogan, Runt." Wrex laughed.

"Where can we find the Administrator?" Shepard asked.

"Up the stairs and to the left."

"Thank you, can we go in now?"

"Of course. If you have any further questions you can find me outside the Administrator's office." She smiled before walking off.

"In other words… just follow her." Harry snorted.

"The only person you are following is Ash." Shepard poked him on the chest. "Chief, keep him away from anyone who even looks interesting and anything that seems… shiny."

"Sir, yes sir!" Ashley saluted with a grin.

"Liara, you're with me. The rest of you… help Ashley."

* * *

><p>The looks the group got as they headed through the port were not very inviting. Apparently it wasn't just the guns they were carrying but also the fact that an alert had been sent out by all the companies ordering their employees to stay away from the Spectre and his team.<p>

Ashley decided that the local bar was probably the best place to stash Harry. It was a fairly upscale place and there wasn't anyone who might intrigue Harry.

Unfortunately she didn't take into account people _being_ intrigued by Harry.

"You're with the Spectre, aren't you?"

They turned to see an asari standing there.

Ashley quickly shoved Harry behind her and into Garrus who grinned as he clamped a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Is he a slave?" She asked with surprise.

"Oi!"

"No, he just tends to let his mouth get us all into trouble."

"Hey!"

"How can we help?" Ashley fell back on her Alliance training on dealing with civilians.

"The male human at the hotel bar. He's a sales rep for Binary Helix. His name is Rafael Vargas. I need you to speak to him."

"Do you know who I am?" Ashley asked curiously.

Harry was about to find out that he had now met a second bitch of an asari.

"Everyone knows who you are, dull stone, you're with the Spectre." Ashley's eyebrow rose at the insult. "That makes you ideal for my job. You are an unknown quantity. Or so Vargas will think.

"He will assume you are here to investigate his company's dirty laundry. That will distract him from your- my real intentions."

"And why not ask him yourself?" Ashley tried to remain polite… despite the urge to play 'Fist Meets Face'.

"I wish I could. He already realised I was not a real buyer."

"What would I be talking to Vargas about?" She decided to play along for now.

"I represent the Aramali City Council on Thessia. Our town is known for its biotic amp crafters." The asari was now being fairly polite.

"Much of BH's work relates to biotics. There are rumours that the Noveria branch has flown in asari biotics. Powerful ones. Commandos to be specific.

"We want to assess any potential risk to asari copyrights.

"You will present yourself as a buyer. On behalf of the Spectres or the Alliance. Discuss their military enhancement programs." The asari was back to being condescending.

"Your real objective will be to distract him. I will give you a device that will crack into his personal wireless network. It will upload a variety of viruses. They will infiltrate Binary Helix when he logs onto their intranet."

"Just so we are clear here… you want me to help you with corporate espionage?" Ashley asked carefully.

The asari rolled her eyes. "If you wish to put a label on it, then yes. This is how things are done in the business world, girl."

Ashley nodded in understanding. "Garrus?" She said without looking away.

"Yes?"

"You may release the beast." She declared as she turned and went to stand by Wrex.

"Huh?"

"I think she means the Runt." Wrex offered.

"Oh." Garrus looked down and saw Harry looking up at him innocently. "Ah, I understand now." He smirked as he removed his hand from Harry's shoulder. "Go play now little ape." He said as though Harry were a wild animal being returned to its home.

Harry just grinned evilly as he stalked towards the confused asari.

"Here's the deal." Harry declared. "We are officers of the law. Granted that here on Noveria our laws don't really count but that doesn't mean we don't hold ourselves to them.

"Interesting fact though, corporate espionage is illegal on Noveria just as it is elsewhere. In fact, it has a much harsher set of laws and punishments."

The asari actually paled.

"So, Miss Mallene Calis," Now she looked positively ill. "I will give you a fighting chance to escape the little pile of crap you have made for yourself to step in.

"You will hand over your little hacking device and head for the nearest shuttle and make your way back to Thessia. There you will beg your elders to protect you."

"And just why should I do that?" She asked haughtily… which would have been more effective if her voice hadn't cracked.

"Because in five minutes I am going to approach Mr. Vargas and inform him of what you have just attempted and provide him with evidence." Harry grinned.

"It will be your word against mine."

"_This is how things are done in the business world, girl."_

Mallene raised her omni-tool to see a recording playing of her entire conversation.

She looked at Harry and saw him with his hand out. "The hacking device?"

She quickly reached into a hidden pocket on her dress and handed the device over. "Just… give me enough time to get off planet." She begged.

"I will." Harry said. "Run along little pebble." He said mockingly.

The asari nearly tripped over her dress as she hurried out of the bar.

"I can't understand why Shepard objects to allowing Harry to handle these people." Garrus frowned.

There was a gravelly chuckle followed by the specific dual tones of a turian. "For that piece of entertainment you _have _to let me buy you a drink."

"Sure, we've got time to kill." Harry grinned as he moved to sit at the table with the turian. "I'm Harry Potter, that's Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex."

"Lorik Qui'in." He gave his name as he signalled the bartender. "I needed to see someone stand up against corruption today." He sighed.

"I hear a story in there." Harry smiled.

"I am currently the manager of the Synthetic Insights office. Although that is definitely just a title at the moment."

"You're being fired?"

"Spirits no." Lorik chuckled. "That would be much simpler. No, Administrator Anoleis has closed my office. He claims to be investigating 'reports of my corruption'."

"I can practically her the quotation marks in there." Ashley snorted as Garrus nodded.

"Yes, the Administrator is an interesting man, he has become quite wealthy since he took direct control of rents."

"Kickbacks and bribes." Garrus said in understanding.

"Indeed, I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired goons are ransacking my office to find it."

"Oh dear." Harry said as he quickly stood up. "I suddenly feel quite ill and require the facilities."

"Harry." Ashley said warningly.

"Aw… come on Ash!" Harry pouted. "I've never taken on hired goons before. Regular goons, sure. But not hired goons."

"The Commander will have me on latrine duty if I let you get into trouble. I did let you deal with the asari." She reasoned.

"But this good man here needs help! We are upholders of the law! It is our sacred duty-"

"The Commander is here." Garrus said quickly.

"Bugger." Harry fell into his chair and crossed his arms sullenly.

Lorik chuckled at the amusing human.

"Harry, glad to see you haven't caused mass amounts of destruction and panic." Shepard said as he and Liara arrived.

"When have I ever caused 'mass amounts of destruction and panic'?" Harry demanded.

"You frequently destroy my calm and cause me to panic." He responded dryly.

"But it's a good kind of panic, right?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Commander Shepard, this is Doctor Liara T'Soni." Shepard introduced himself to the new turian.

"Lorik Qui'in. Your companions were just keeping me company and listening to my tales of woe." Lorik smiled sadly.

"Unfortunately we have our own tales of woe." Liara sighed. "The Administrator wouldn't give us a pass to leave for Peak 15."

"Peak 15, you say?" Lorik turned to Harry and smirked. "Fortune smiles on us both my friend."

Harry instantly perked up.

"As I was telling your companions, I have evidence of the Administrator's corruption. I am unable to get into my offices as he had people ransacking them to find the evidence. If you can retrieve the evidence, I can give you my pass to get to Peak 15."

Harry began pumping his fist. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Do be careful my friend. Some of the people going through my office are part of port security, they maybe armed." The turian warned Harry.

"A criminal is a criminal is a criminal." Harry said sagely. "If they draw weapons on us then they clearly expected to be fired at and die."

"Those that live by the sword shall die by the sword." Ashley quoted.

"I can live with that." Shepard agreed.

"Here, you'll need this to access my computer." He handed over an OSD.

"See you in a bit Lorik." Harry said as he stood up and headed for the door.

* * *

><p>"Suggestion: Leave now or die." Harry grinned widely at the two members of Port Hanshan Security that had challenged them when they reached the Synthetic Insights offices.<p>

"Yeah… y-you and what army?" The male guard tried to act tough.

"That army." Harry jabbed a finger over his shoulder at Wrex.

Wrex cocked his shotgun… his grin was… a lot more dangerous than Harry's.

"We'll leave!"

"See? Easy." Harry nudged Shepard with his elbow.

It was fairly easy to locate Lorik's office and download the data. The problems came when they exited his office.

"What was that you were saying, Harry? Easy?" Shepard asked.

"Well… getting in was easy. Getting out will be fun." Harry shrugged.

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard." The blonde woman who was with Matsuo stood in their path.

"You have me at a disadvantage, Miss…?"

"Oh, now you're going to show some respect?" She scoffed.

"Sergeant Kaira Stirling, Elanus Risk Control Services." Harry answered.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" She asked.

"No. Just trying to speed things up. Lorik needs his evidence and we need our pass to Peak 15. We're very busy people." Harry said in a conspiratory whisper.

"Anoleis would throw you off world for what you did here. I won't." She said threateningly. "Do you know what we did to cop killers on my world?"

"Send them to work on frozen planets as rent-a-cops?" Ashley asked.

"We haven't killed anyone." Shepard reasoned.

"That's not the way I'll tell it." Kaira grinned as she drew her weapon.

"Don't kill her!" Harry shouted as he dove for cover.

"All that talk and now you won't let me kill?" Wrex growled from his own cover.

"She isn't worth it. I have bigger plans for her."

"It better be good." Wrex grumbled as he popped out of cover and fired a low shot at the legs of the guards.

"She's fairly powerful for a human." Liara commented on Kaira's biotics as she held her own barrier to protect the group.

"Liara, on my word, drop your barrier. Wrex, you can't kill her but you can hit her. Prepare for incoming."

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Now!"

As the barrier dropped Harry summoned Kaira into Wrex's reach. Wrex clearly enjoyed the punch he delivered to her face along with the blood spray.

Liara hastily re-erected her barrier.

"Stand down or we'll do more than just hit you." Shepard warned the remaining five guards.

The guards quickly complied, not wanting to find out what was worse than being hit by a krogan.

"Weapons on the floor and hands in the air." Ashley ordered.

In short order they were marching the guards to the door as Wrex happily dragged the unconscious Kaira along the floor by the collar of her armour.

They were met at the door by Captain Matsuo.

"What is this? What have you done to my sergeant?" She demanded.

"We knocked her out when she tried to kill us." Shepard answered. "Fairly lenient of us to be honest."

"What were you doing that made her find it necessary to fire on you?" Matsuo asked.

"Classified." Harry spoke up. "What isn't classified is that Sergeant Stirling and her people have been working as hired thugs for Anoleis and they have been involved in corporate espionage."

Matsuo scowled. "Those are serious charges."

"And we have serious proof." Harry said as Matsuo's omni-tool lit up. "I trust that Sergeant Stirling and her people will receive the appropriate Noverian justice as stipulated in its charters?"

"I believe that will be the case."

"Is that what you had planned?" Wrex asked sullenly. "Prison?"

"A lifetime of hard labour on this planet is nothing compared to the prison sentences in Citadel Space." Matsuo said solemnly. "She could be dead within a year, the work is so treacherous."

"Hmph… should'a just killed her."

As the group exited the offices they were met by Gianna Parasini.

"Commander, there have been reports of noise from the Synthetic Heights Office. Would you know anything about that?"

"Probably the sound of Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart."

"A smart ass, huh? I can work with that. Meet me at the bar _before_ you talk to Qui'in."

"Why?" Harry asked with a frown.

"I can't talk here."

"But you can talk in a crowded bar?" Garrus asked.

"Huh… Noveria Internal Affairs." Harry spoke up.

"How did you know that?" She hissed.

"You did a good job of trying to erase your identity but nobody is perfect. I ran your name and face through a search engine and found references to you on various social networking sites. Nothing specific, just that you know plenty of people from law enforcement. Put that together with you being here and you can only be working for the NIA."

"That… is fairly impressive." Gianna admitted. "I guess I got lucky, I've been undercover for six months."

"I've deleted all references to you." Harry assured her.

"Thanks." She said slowly. "Listen, the Executive Board knows about Anoleis' corruption. I want you to convince Lorik to testify against him. With his evidence the planet can probably run profitably again."

"What's in it for him?" Harry asked.

"You mean other than doing the right thing and getting Anoleis off his back? What, you want me to give him a medal?" She scoffed.

"He can deal with Anoleis himself once he has his evidence back." Harry reasoned. "I was thinking of something that would showcase his willingness to do the right thing. Like offering him Anoleis' job."

"I don't have that kind of pull!"

"If you don't ask you won't know." Harry remained firm. "Lorik is a good guy. He would be good for Noveria. Besides, I just want you to offer it. He may not want the job. It is already mired in corruption and he would have to spend a good deal of time trying to clean it up."

"I'll have to make some calls… but you have to remember that this place runs on things like nepotism."

"Which is why Lorik is perfect. He is neutral and not loyal or linked to the Executive Board."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Gianna asked.

"I have a computer for a brain."

Gianna looked behind Harry to see Garrus and Ashley nodding.

"Give me ten minutes. I'll message you with the decision."

* * *

><p>"I am glad to see you are unharmed." Lorik said in relief as Harry and the team sat down at the table.<p>

"Wasn't too hard." Harry said as he handed Lorik the OSD. "The most annoying part was having to listen to Stirling jabber on, she's now being charged with espionage."

Lorik nodded but looked at the OSD with a frown. "Just like that? No bribes, blackmail or expectation of payment? You are just giving me the OSD?"

"Try to remember that I don't actually work here." Harry laughed.

"Of course, of course." Lorik sighed. "And I have been here far too long. Thank you my friend. You have saved me from a very nasty sentence."

"One which Stirling will soon be enjoying." Harry raised his glass to Lorik who returned the salute. "That said, there is a chance to ensure that Anoleis receives the same benefits."

"Hmm… so there _is_ a catch."

"No, this is entirely up to you." Harry assured him. "There is a Noveria Internal Affairs agent trying to prove Anoleis' corruption. They could really use your evidence and testimony."

"A very dangerous endeavour."

"No more dangerous than Anoleis deciding that you are too much of risk to have holding evidence over him. This way removes him altogether. I _did_ try to get them to offer you his position. You are too good to be corrupt so I said you would be perfect to try and restore some honour to the role."

"The equivalent of trying to dig through a mountain!" Lorik grimaced. "That job would be almost as bad as being assigned to hard labour with Stirling."

"Well, I just told them to offer it. I warned them that it might be too much for you. But you could always insist on having a team to work for you."

"Harry, Parasini came through. The Board has made the offer." Shepard spoke up.

"There you go, jobs there if you want it."

"If you don't take the job then the person who does could be worse than Anoleis." Shepard warned.

"Spirits! This place would be bankrupt within a year." He laughed. "Very well, you have convinced me. I will take the job and testify." He said as he handed the OSD to Harry.

Harry stared at the OSD for a few seconds before handing it back. "I just copied it."

"How did you manage that? You aren't wearing an omni-tool."

"I have a computer for a brain."

This time Ashley, Garrus _and_ Liara were nodding.

* * *

><p>Whilst Shepard and Liara headed to the Administrator's office to talk with Gianna, the rest headed to the garage to prepare for their journey.<p>

"I can't believe we have to take another tank." Harry grumbled as they approached the guard.

Garrus chuckled as he handed the pass to the young human woman.

"You laugh but you weren't in the Mako when Shepard was driving." Harry scowled.

"Shit! Contact! Geth! Twelve O'Clock!" Ashley shouted as she pulled her assault rifle from her back.

Charging towards them were two nine-foot tall Heretic Destroyers.

"I've got the one on the left!" Harry shouted as he pulled his sword from his back.

"Right ones mine!" Wrex replied.

The Destroyers were moving too fast to go down to weapons fire. Harry ducked low and swung at the knees. The acid enhanced blade easily sliced through the metal sending the platform to the ground. Harry followed up with a stab to the back of the head, completely destroying it.

Wrex was enjoying his battle whilst Ashley and Garrus were trying to take out some very spry Stalkers.

"_Immobulus!"_

The now stationary Stalkers were quickly despatched by the two.

"Thanks Harry." Ashley nodded.

"Wrex, I think it's dead." Garrus winced as the krogan continued to pound on the now busted Destroyer.

"What did you do here, Potter?"

The group turned to see Captain Matsuo standing there angrily.

"Defended myself. Saved your lives. Saved the lives of everyone in the port." Harry said calmly. "I'll send you a bill."

"There were geth here, Captain." Garrus spoke up before Harry could get on a roll.

"I refuse to believe that." She said, she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

Harry picked up the head of the Destroyer he had dealt with. He began speaking in a cartoonish voice. "That's right! I'm just a simple organic like you. Those aren't wires coming out of my neck… that's just solid blood."

"Damn it Harry!" Shepard said loudly as he entered the hanger. "Can't you go anywhere without causing trouble?"

"How is this my fault?"

"Let me think on it." Shepard muttered. It was just second nature for him to accuse Harry. Both men knew he didn't mean it.

"How do you explain geth on this planet?" Matsuo demanded.

"Too much time spent harassing other law enforcement officials and not enough time checking regular visitors… like asari matriarchs?" Harry offered.

"Benezia? No, we scanned those crates-"

"But did you open them?" Garrus interrupted. "Criminals are always coming up with new ways to defeat security, everything from building devices to trick scanners to simply bribing security."

"And we've already proven how reliable and trustworthy your people are." Liara added.

"Numbers, Captain. I need to know what I am dealing with here. Dozens, hundreds?" Shepard demanded.

"Dozens at least. I- I have to go. If something isn't done there could be an investor panic!" She said as she got more worried and walked off.

"When she says 'investor panic', does she mean money problems or that the investors will fear for their lives?" Harry asked.

"Money problems." The group chorused.

The group headed to the nearby Grizzly, the predecessor to the Mako tank.

"This thing needs a few repairs before it will work." Harry mused.

"There is a Mako just ahead." Garrus offered.

"We won't all fit." Ashley shook her head.

"Can you fix it?" Shepard asked Harry.

"Give me a second." Harry said as he began running to various crates and boxes. He soon returned.

"Yeah, they already had all the parts are here. If you lot can unload them and lay them out then I can probably have us going in an hour."

With no other viable option Harry quickly got to work fixing the Grizzly and even cannibalising parts from the destroyed heretic platforms.

There was one broken axle, a cracked wheel and the steering column was compacted.

The only things that really worked were the weapons.

An hour later and they were headed out.

Shepard had insisted on driving.

He was physically pulled from the driver's seat five minutes in by Wrex who ordered Harry to take over.

Shepard did his best not to sulk.

"Seriously Skipper, did you actually _pass_ armoured vehicle training?" Ashley asked.

"Of course! I'm N7. It's a requirement."

"He barely passed." Harry piped up from the front. "They would have failed him but the only real requirement is that he gets the vehicle safely from point A to point B in the allotted time. Anything they have to do between is up to them.

"His driving was so erratic that they mistook it for skill and tactics that they couldn't grasp. He holds the record for the quickest completion time."

"How did he manage that if he was so bad then?" Liara asked.

"Because he accidentally drove it off a short cliff and managed to use the thrusters to land it safely. He can't drive but he can definitely fly. He managed to cut a whole hour off his time."

"I heard they had to make it a penalty if anyone tried the same manoeuvre." Shepard chuckled. "The N7 candidates would try to repeat what I did and end up destroying the Mako and failing the course."

"So… you technically failed the N7 course." Ashley reasoned

"No, he passed." Harry came to Shepard's defence. "Just because he can't drive doesn't mean he can't think. He used all his wits to survive that fall. That would have been enough."


	7. Chapter 7

The trip was relatively short despite the route being littered with heretic platforms and turrets.

What Harry wasn't able to run over he cleaned up with the turret.

When they arrived at the Peak 15 Hanger they were met by more Heretic Destroyers and also a few krogan.

This time Harry moved through the enemy using stealth. His armour, like a geth Hunter's, was equipped with a tactical cloak. Whilst the others provided a distraction he was able to eliminate the enemy with his sword. The heretics falling to the acid whilst the krogans succumbed to the venom.

"Hmph, not much honour in stabbing your enemy in the back." Wrex said disapprovingly of Harry's methods.

"We are talking about the same enemy who attacked unarmed civilians?" Ashley pointed out.

"Still, seems… unsavoury."

"I promise to stab the next one in the face, Wrex." Harry told him. "Just remember to cover me whilst I heal up."

"Doesn't it hurt when you get injured?" Liara asked as they made their way through the complex.

"Oh yes. The geth can redirect nerve endings but it has a detrimental effect on my mobility. It's not a good idea to do it whilst in the middle of a fight."

They reached a corridor where it became clear that the walls had been breached due to snow on the ground.

"Hold up, there are heretic platforms in the next room… and some sort of creature." Harry announced as his sensors scanned the area.

"Your sensors can differentiate between species?" Garrus asked, impressed.

"Sure. But not with a great deal of accuracy. It can identify a krogan based on size and mechs based on metal content but it has a hard time trying to figure out asari from human, for instance.

"However, these organic creatures don't appear to be bipedal."

Harry pulled out his sword. "If you ladies and gents will excuse me, I have to go and shove my sword in someone's face."

"Harry, wait!"

Shepard was too late as Harry was already through the door and charging at the shock trooper at the far end of the room.

True to his word the platform went down with his sword in its face. The only thing that saved Harry was the element of surprise. There just hadn't been enough time for the platform to raise its weapon.

Harry suddenly found himself under fire from the platforms near the door he had come through. He ducked behind large concrete partition that sat in the middle of the room.

The others were quickly in the room and gunning down the remaining heretics. Harry added his own _Reductos_ to the fire.

The heretics were quickly overwhelmed.

The group immediately took up position as Harry indicated the offices up the stairs where unusual sounds where coming from.

Out of the ventilation grates in the floor erupted small green bug like creatures the size of a foot that scuttle towards them quickly. Behind them were much larger creatures with waving antennae.

"RACHNI!" Wrex shouted.

"Everyone take cover and watch for acid!" Harry shouted as he cast a banisher at the small green creatures. They hit the larger creatures behind them and exploded on impact.

All of a sudden a swirl of glowing blue energy appeared amongst the creatures causing them to float off the ground. The energy exploded when a wave of blue energy impacted it. The team followed up with gunfire quickly eliminating the creatures.

"That was impressive." Ashley told Liara who blushed at the praise.

"Thank you. Singularities weren't something I often practised."

"That was a singularity?" Harry asked with wide eyes. "Wow, I don't think I can some thing like that with magic. I'll have to give these biotics a shot."

"You're a biotic?" Garrus asked.

"Well… sort of. It isn't really that simple. I am a magic user. Eezo is actually magic in it's purest most concentrated form. Biotics are actually magic users who have either forgotten or haven't mastered the skill to perform magic. As a result they use more primitive brute force talents called biotics."

"You claim that biotics can perform your magic?" Liara asked.

"According to the records from Earth. Magicals saw the discovery of Eezo and biotics as a way to integrate into the rest of the world without having to fear witch trials again."

"Those were real?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, of course only a really dumb magical will be affected during a witch burning. We have a charm to repel fire. There was one idiot who kept letting them catch him."

"Can we focus on the rachni?" Wrex interrupted angrily. "My people gave a lot to defeat those monsters the last time. They were supposed to be extinct."

"Are you sure they were rachni?" Garrus asked.

"I wasn't in the Rachni Wars but I worked with various krogan teams to rout stray nests. I know one when I see one."

"I can confirm it." Harry added. "They match all the records available."

"So someone got some DNA and cloned it?" Ashley suggested.

"Or they weren't as extinct as we hoped." Garrus grimaced.

"We move on people. If we want answers we won't get them standing here." Shepard ordered as he began to move out.

After a short, quick lift ride to a lower level (that had Harry happily looking for the makers of the lift to send them his compliments) they arrived at the VI Core. There was a short incident with the smaller bugs that Harry was able to identify as rachni workers but they were easily dealt with by Liara copying Harry's earlier tactic of banishing them with a biotic throw.

"Harry, can you get this thing running?" Shepard asked as they stood in front of the entrance to the memory core.

The core was contained inside a cylinder shaped server that allowed a worker to be lowered down to manually access the hardware.

"Sure, give me a few minutes." Harry said as he stepped onto the circular and was lowered down.

Ashley grinned as she watched him go down. "I love you!"

Harry looked at her with a frown. Then it was all downloaded into his brain. "I know!" He grinned. "Take care of her Chewy."

Ashley chuckled until she realised everyone was staring at her.

"Star Wars quote? Han Solo was lowered into the freezing thing and Leia says she loved him and he responds with 'I know'?" She prodded them.

"So… you don't actually love him?" Liara asked slowly.

Ashley snorted. "Maybe like an irritating little brother. I have plans to introduce him to my sisters, we always wanted a brother."

"Do you think Harry knows what you meant?" Shepard asked, he tried his best to hide his slight jealousy.

"You saw that look on his face, Skipper. He had no idea what I was on about until the geth told him. Otherwise he wouldn't have responded with that reference.

"Why was he looking at Shepard when he called him 'Chewy'?" Garrus asked.

"Maybe you should just download the vids." Shepard coughed awkwardly.

* * *

><p>It took ten minutes for Harry to return. "Ok, the VI was severely restricted. I shut it down and installed the geth. The bad news is that there are a few physical issues we need to deal with before we can get a true picture of the problems."<p>

"It is never easy." Shepard sighed. "Ok, what do we need to do?"

"The landlines are on the roof and need reconnecting and the reactor is offline due to the fuel lines being cut. They need repairing."

Shepard turned to the door behind them that led to the roof. "We'll start up top then." He decided.

The group had to deal with a fairly large nest of rachni on the roof. Harry took the opportunity to try a singularity.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!" Ashley snapped at him as she picked herself off the floor.

"I'm sorry! I didn't realise it would be that big!" He turned to Liara. "Is there a trick to keeping the power down?"

Liara was still fairly shocked. The singularity Harry had cast had encompassed the entire roof. His teammates had been caught in it and it was only the fact that Harry's armour automatically clamped him to the floor that meant he didn't go floating off. He had spent sixty seconds banishing rachni off the roof before he tried casting a finite on the spatial disturbance.

"Usually it is a problem to build _up_ enough power to create a biotic effect. I have never heard of anyone having too much power."

"Oh… I'll stick to magic for now then." Harry decided.

"Do you not _remember_ why I was against Kaiden having the surgery now?" Shepard glared at him. "You don't take an untested weapon into battle!"

"I. Am. Sorry! I'm still new to all this. Less than two weeks ago I actually died! Give me a goddamned break!" Harry snapped back.

"Died?" Ashley stepped into his personal space and frowned at him. "When you landed on Rannoch, right?"

"Before that. Back in 1998. I had to let the man I was fighting kill me. I was dead for a few minutes… it was the single most scary night of my life."

"Jesus Harry." Shepard sighed. "Are you even fit for duty? Is that why you were desperate to go to Earth?"

"Potter Emissary is suffering from stage one denial of the Kübler-Ross stages of grief." The geth spoke from the nearby VI terminal. "We regret that we may have pushed him too soon into helping us. We do not fully understand the effects of time travel on human psychology."

"He is the Fighting Dead." Wrex rumbled. "He fights as though he is already dead. It happens when a krogan is struck with illness or a terminal injury. They run into enemy fire no longer caring about tactics. They see no point in living longer than is necessary."

"Fine. After we finish on Noveria and we get Kaiden and Tali back we will head to Earth. I'll speak to Admiral Hackett about getting you a shrink to talk to."

"I'm fine. I just… I just want to get Saren, stop the old machines and get the quarians and geth speaking again. Then I can focus on Earth. There are more important things than my curiosity." Harry said, he wouldn't look up though.

"I'll take the lead." Wrex grunted.

"I've got the rear." Garrus nodded.

"Let's finish this. Saren and Benezia are officially on my nerves." Shepard scowled as he checked his weapons.

Dealing with the cut fuel lines for the reactor was a simple matter of fighting through rachni and geth. There weren't many rachni and the few geth in the reactor core were easy for Harry and Liara to send over the side.

That just left having to take the tram to Rift Station where the research was done.

Things were not looking promising when they were greeted by Elanus Risk Control Guards pointing guns at them.

"Stand down." The lead guard ordered his men. "Sorry, we couldn't be sure what was on the tram."

"Can those things work a train's controls?" Shepard asked out of pure curiosity.

"Hell if I know. I'm not assuming a goddamn thing."

"I like him already." Harry mused.

The guard was tall and well built like a soldier. He had a shaved head and tanned skin.

"Look, you're human, and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are."

"Commander Shepard, Council Spectre."

"Huh. I won't look a heavily armed horse in the mouth, I'm Captain Ventralis." The guard smiled slightly.

"I really like him." Harry smiled. This made the other team members feel a bit better as Harry had been fairly subdued since the roof.

"The aliens overran the Hot Labs last week. Only Han Olar got out, and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the bastards were crawling into my command post… we had a lot more staff back then."

"Not bad considering this was essentially a surprise attack." Garrus said.

"The board sent in an asari to clean up the mess. She went to the Hot Labs yesterday, we haven't heard from her since."

"We'll keep your people alive and get you out of here." Shepard promised.

"All I can do is hold out here and protect the civilians. There's an emergency elevator out by the trams. This card will let you activate it. It can take you down to the Hot Labs.

"If you need any first aid, Dr. Cohen is downstairs in the med bay."

"Contact!" Harry spoke up quickly as he spun on the spot.

Suddenly they could all hear the scuttling in the vents.

"How many?" Garrus asked.

"Two."

"Are they both in the vents?"

"One on the left and one in the right." Harry confirmed.

Wrex grunted and walked to the right vent. "Handle the left one Runt." He said as he pulled his shotgun and aimed at the closed vent.

Harry moved into position. As soon as he saw movement he cast a _Reducto_ at the grate. Wrex soon followed with several blasts from his weapon.

"It's safe." Harry announced.

"Doesn't this go against your philosophy of facing your enemy?" Ashley asked the krogan.

Wrex just snorted. "Rachni aren't enemies. They're pests. They just need stepping on." He turned to the Captain. "Keep shooting them in the vent and it will be clogged with bodies. Be harder for them to get out."

Ventralis nodded as he ordered his men to take a closer position over the vents.

Harry cast a few animal repelling wards discreetly. The same type that he and Hermione had used during their year on the run.

"Thanks for the help." The Captain said gratefully. "Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. It's actually better since we locked down the elevator."

"Just keep clogging those vents and things should slow down." Shepard advised.

The team headed through the corridors.

"Well this can't be good." Harry muttered as he saw just how few survivors there were. "This place is supposed to have a staff of hundreds."

"Spread out people. Start asking questions." Shepard instructed.

"Liara, come with me." Harry said quietly.

Curious, Ashley and the doctor followed Harry over to the only other asari in the room who was standing to the side with her eyes closed.

"So, what's your name?" Harry asked with a smile.

The asari scowled as she opened her eyes. "My name is Alestia Lallis." She sneered.

"Great, my name is Harry Potter. Any chance you know Matriarch Benezia?" Harry grinned that grin which set his teammates on edge.

"Why ask me? Why not ask your friend?" She said with a slight patronisation.

"Not very smart, are you." Harry said sadly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alestia demanded.

"I already know her answer, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking to you. Fairly obvious, isn't it?" There was that smug little grin.

"Why would I know Matriarch Benezia?" She sighed.

"You mean other than the fact she is a high ranking member of the asari who just so happened to come here to deal with your little infestation problem?"

"Do you know every high ranking human?" She asked snidely.

"No, but if I was working for the company of one of them and they came here then I might try to meet them or at the very least, find out why they were here."

"I prefer to focus on my work." She said primly.

"You are trapped in here for the duration. You can't access your work and are at a high risk of death. You expect me to believe that when you discovered a Matriarch was here to rescue you, you didn't ask questions?"

"All questions you could ask your friend or anyone else."

"Not really. Humans have better insight into humans, turians into turians and… asari into asari." Harry shrugged. "Benezia arrived several days ago. Anything my friend knows is that long out of date."

Alestia began to get frustrated. "Look, _human_, I don't care how it works in your immature species but I don't know anything about the Matriarch. If you don't mind I would like to get back to my meditation."

Harry just stood there expectantly.

"Well?!"

"Nothing." Harry smiled politely. "Sweet dreams." He called over his shoulder.

There was an inarticulate growl behind him.

"Was there a point to that, Harry?" Liara asked quietly.

"Sure. Whilst I was riling her up I was able to hack through the local databases and get the geth to hack the Thessian records. She's an asari commando."

"You hacked Thessia?!" Liara was aghast.

"What's a commando doing playing a scientist?" Ashley wondered.

"Her last assignment had her placed under Benezia's command." Harry answered. "She might be out here to look out for people like us."

"Shit. We should take her down bef-"

"Relax, I got the geth jamming all signals but ours." Harry assured her.

"We should still deal with her."

"I know, but do you really want to risk all these civilians? We should let her come to us."

"Let's tell Shepard and see what he wants us to do." Ashley decided.

"Go on, I want to talk to that vendor." Harry said.

"I will tell the Commander." Liara offered as she knew Ashley had to stay with Harry.

"Pleased Greeting: Welcome human. It is good to see you." The large Elcor stated in its deep, slow monotone.

The Elcor were large quadrupeds, but their front legs had an almost arm like structure unlike other four-legged animals.

"It is good to see you have survived. I am Harry." Harry said politely.

"Respectful statement: My name is Petozi."

"I was hoping you might have some things to sell me."

"Reluctant admission: My stock is limited. Captain Ventralis has taken most for his men."

"I don't need much. Just a grenade, biotic amp, omni-tool and a pistol."

"Curious surprise: An interesting selection."

"I have something very specific in mind." Harry grinned.

"Amused statement: I have those items. I am curious as to what you want them for." Petozi admitted.

"I'll tell you later. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." Harry winked.

Whilst Harry moved to a nearby table he was joined by Liara and the others.

"We need a way to isolate the commando." Shepard said quietly.

Harry frowned at the hushed tones then nodded in realisation. He cast a few privacy wards. "We can talk freely."

"More magic?" Liara asked.

"Yep, very useful." Harry nodded as he got back to work.

"What are you building?" Garrus asked.

"Just a few things that will make Miss Lallis more cooperative." Harry said without looking up. "It would be best if we could get her somewhere quiet though."

"Do you actually know what you are doing?" Ashley asked. She knew that Harry was still new to this world.

"Sort of. I'm just doing what the geth tell me."

"So this is their plan?"

"Um… my plan, I guess. They are just telling me how I can make it work."

"Why did you dismantle the gun?" Shepard asked.

"I just needed the magnetic sections from the thermal clip."

"Leave the Runt to his tinkering. How are we going to handle the asari?" Wrex asked.

"I spoke to the doctor in the med bay." Garrus said. "He needs to get into his lab to make the antidote for something his colleagues got dosed with. According to the building plan, the lab has only one entrance."

"All we need then is a lure." Shepard said thoughtfully.

"I'd be willing to bet she'll come as things stand." Harry said as he began stuffing the left over parts in the pockets on his suit. "She knows we are here for Benezia and she got a good enough look at Liara to recognise her."

"And you pissed her off so much that she wants to kill you on principle." Ashley added.

"Alright, let's go." Shepard ordered.

"Bringing the privacy wards down." Harry warned.

Harry couldn't resist grinning widely and waving at Alestia as they headed through the door at the opposite end of the room they had entered through.

The glare he received was… heart warming.

In that she clearly wanted his heart to warm up enough to incinerate in his chest.

Guarding the door to the lab was a turian.

"You're not part of the crew."

"We're here to make the cure for Dr. Cohen." Shepard answered. "I'm a Spectre."

"There aren't any human spectres." He said suspiciously.

"There are now." Harry spoke up.

"It's true. He's the first." Liara backed him up.

"Look, this plague doesn't care who you are. This lab is under quarantine."

"The cure is in there. We need to get it for the Doctor." Shepard reasoned.

"And what if the cure doesn't work and you infect us all?" There was a hint of worry.

"What if those infected are contagious and the plague is already starting to work on you?" Harry countered.

The turian's mandibles twitched nervously.

"The plague is already dead in there. It was built with a kill switch if not introduced to a biological specimen." Shepard explained.

"That's what Cohen said! He can't be sure so this door stays locked!"

"Hmm." Harry tapped his chin. "Wasn't Cohen also the one who told you the current victims weren't contagious? Just think; the cure is just beyond those doors."

"Fine. You can go in." He said anxiously. "But if you can't pass the scan I'm locking you in."

"Fair enough." Shepard agreed as he opened the door.

Harry followed last with Ashley. "Listen, when the asari, Alestia, comes along. Just let her in. She's with us."

"Sure, whatever. Just get in and close the damned door!"

"Thanks Harry, you just ruined our trap." Ashley scowled.

"If I hadn't warned him then she would probably have killed him."

"Only now she might turn and run."

"An asari commando doesn't run. She'll simply accept the challenge." Liara shook her head.

As Shepard worked the automated machines to produce the cure Harry placed his little devices over the doorframe.

"Everyone to the other end of the room." Harry instructed as he led them away from the door. "They've arrived."

The door opened and to the surprise of the others Alestia walked in with another asari and two heretic shock troopers.

"Your mission ends here, Shepard." She declared. "I was ordered to eliminate you should the opportunity arise. And here you are, trapped in this lab… weapons free!"

"Barriers and shields only!" Harry said quickly.

Liara quickly complied as the enemy tried to fire their weapons, which did nothing, whilst Alestia frowned as her biotics didn't work.

Harry cast two stunners at the asari as the troopers moved forward to engage in physical combat.

The team stared at Harry with wide eyes as he opened his mouth and a strange synthetic digital white noise emerged. The platforms came to a complete stop.

A second later Harry stopped making the noise and one of the heretics made a similar noise before they both went dormant.

"It's safe." Harry announced. He cast a couple of binding spells at the asari, wrapping them in ropes.

"Explain." Shepard ordered.

"Which part?" Harry asked calmly.

"Start from the beginning where their weapons and biotics failed."

Harry gave a small smile before he went to retrieve the two devices. He held up the left and then the right one. "This is a remote biotic dampener. Anything within a very small radius has their biotics neutralised. This one is a weapons scrambler. It works by disrupting the connection between the thermal clip and the weapon.

"I have the geth working on active devices like a singularity mine that can be placed anywhere."

"That's why you needed the omni-tool and the biotic amp." Garrus nodded.

"Right. I needed the grenade for the trigger switch and the pistol for the magnetic clamps that hold the thermal clips in place."

"And that… noise you were emitting?" Shepard prompted.

"That was the language of the geth. We had a really long conversation in the space of a few minutes as we used undulating wavelengths to produce a digital signal.

"I pretty much gave them a choice to stay and die or leave and live."

"And they chose to live?" Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something the quarians decided to ignore is that the geth fear death. A good indicator of life is when a being understands death and cringes from it. It is one of the ways the geth determined they were actually alive, they fear termination.

"The heretics have allied themselves with the old machines because they want more power. They don't want to die and they want to be able to stop people like quarians from killing them.

"In short… heretics are cowards, like most bullies."

"So they… turned tail and ran?" Ashley said with a small amount of amusement.

"Pretty much. Of course it also gives us two new team mates." Harry smiled as he began uploading the geth into the platforms.

"Won't those two attract the wrong type of attention?" Garrus asked.

"Unlikely." Liara shook her head. "The geth are so rare that people will mistake them for standard mechs."

"Besides, Alestia did just boldly walk in with them." Shepard added. "There were three scientists and a guard out there."

"All of whom are alive and well." Harry informed them after checking his scanners.

"What do we do with the asari?" Wrex asked.

"They won't talk." Liara warned.

"I could try something." Harry offered reluctantly.

"Got a truth spell in you, Harry?" Ashley asked.

"More like a mind reading spell."

"You can read our minds?" Liara asked worriedly.

"It requires eye contact and concentration. Plus I've been abused with it before so I have no intention of using it in anything but the most dire of situations." Harry assured them.

"Do it." Shepard ordered.

Despite Harry's limited experience with legillimancy, he knew the process thanks to the information in the geth databases. It wasn't a pleasant experience, trawling through the memories of the two asari, but it was necessary.

Harry eventually stood up and transfigured the two women into marbles that he dropped into a pocket.

"What the hell…?" Ashley asked wide eyed.

"Huh?"

"You turned them into pebbles!"

"Marbles."

"Whatever!"

"It makes it easier to transport them. They are just soldiers. They believe that Benezia is working with Thessian authority. If we deliver these two to Tevos she can probably deal with them better." Harry explained. "I'd rather not kill someone for being misguided or lied to."

"The only good enemy is a dead enemy." Wrex grunted unhappily.

"But someone indebted to you might make a good ally." Shepard countered. "A couple of asari commandos owing us a favour is nothing to sniff at."

"Lets hurry. I need to kill something." Wrex grumbled.

"Any heretics you see are fair game." Harry assured him. "Speaking of which." He cast a spell at the two geth turning them emerald green. "Now we know our allies."

"And so do the enemy." Ashley pointed out.

"No, I put a charm on them so they don't get noticed by enemies."

Shepard and Liara quickly delivered the cure to Cohen whilst Harry and the others went to inform Ventralis about the asari and heretics.

"Ventralis, you've got geth." Ashley barked as they entered the room they were guarding.

"You also had an asari commando… we dealt with her." Garrus added.

"A shame." Ventralis said with a grin. "But that means that Benezia will have to up her offer for taking you down. Open fire!"

"_Bombarda Maxima!"_ Harry shouted.

Casting that spell with Harry's power in such a small room meant one thing: The walls were given a new colour… just like when he helped rescue Tali.

"I know I'm not supposed to say this as a soldier… but that is a little overkill." Ashley said in disgust as human remains slid down the walls.

"Better them than us." Wrex shrugged. "I'm just pissed I didn't get a shot. Runt's too damn quick." He admitted with approval.

"Well, let's meet the Commander and tell him what happened." Ashley sighed.

* * *

><p>The turian guard outside the quarantined lab was slammed up against the door violently by the commander.<p>

"I don't like it when idiots try to kill my people." Shepard growled in his face as he pushed his arm in the guard's throat. "Tell your people that if they don't want to end up like Ventralis then stay the hell out of my way!"

Shepard stepped back and let the turian fall.

"Let's go. I'm tired of this place already." Shepard said as he stomped off to the rear where there was a maintenance entrance to the lab.

"Boys, stay outside until the shooting starts." Harry instructed. "She probably has more heretics so you might be able to slip in and stab them in the back."

"Unsporting." Wrex sighed.

"There will be plenty of them to stab in the face, Wrex. She has about twenty commandos and thirty geth."

"Twenty commandos?" Liara asked in shock. "A team of five would be more than enough to secure this facility."

"Maybe these are all she has and she wants to keep them close." Ashley suggested. "Harry did say that they believe Benezia is on the level. She probably doesn't want them learning that she is a traitor."

"Harry, can you tell how many are in the room?" Shepard asked.

"Two bipedal organics and what appears to be a very large rachni."

"The queen." Wrex scowled. "If we take her out we can end this problem."

"The queen, if I am seeing this right, is being held securely. We can focus on Benezia."

"Unless the bitch sets her on us." Ashley pointed out. "No offence Liara."

"None taken… she did try to kill me."

"Harry, Liara, with me. The rest of you stay put until you hear gunfire."

"You're taking Harry, Skipper?"

"I hate to say it," Shepard said with a pained look, "but Harry has a knack for pissing people off and getting them to tell us more than they should."

Shepard's expression worsened when he saw the huge grin Harry was sporting.

"Let's get this over with." Shepard sighed.

The trio entered the entered the lab. At the centre, and taking up most of the room, was a large clear container holding the rachni queen. It was connected to a large tube that was clearly used to herd the queen without being exposed. There was a raised section of platform with stairs leading up to it where controls for the container stood.

Along with Benezia in a tight, long black dress and a black headdress.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation." Benezia began without looking at them

"Bugger. She's monologue-ing." Harry muttered a little loudly.

"Ah, The Anomaly. The one who can unlock aspects of biotics so secret that even the asari have not heard of them."

"Lovely. Another title." Harry said sarcastically.

She looked at Liara dismissively before turning to Shepard. "I will not be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring to this confrontation."

"Shit she's on to us!" Harry stage whispered. "Abort the plan! Abort the plan! Oof!"

Harry rubbed his side from Shepard's elbow.

"Why are you doing this, Mother?" Liara asked imploringly. "Why would you betray your own people to side with that monster?"

"Such narrow minded views." She said in disgust. "Tell me Commander, have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

"Been there, done that, it gets boring after a while." Shepard said casually.

"Such arrogance." She said condescendingly.

"Did she just call _us_ arrogant?" Harry asked in disbelief.

He didn't get a response as Benezia unleashed a powerful stasis field on them that trapped them in place. The lab was instantly flooded with asari commandos and heretic platforms.

The field was suddenly dropped as Benezia refocused it to protect herself. The trio quickly moved to cover.

"Where's our back up?" Shepard shouted as he fired from cover.

"Stuck behind the door." Harry shouted back. "One second."

Harry stared at the door and it suddenly opened as the two shock troopers stormed in followed by the rest of the team.

"Listen, focus on the heretics. I can take out the commandos." Harry said as he activated his cloak.

"What about Benezia?" Ashley shouted.

"She's too busy maintaining that barrier." Shepard answered. "Clear away her support." He barked.

They quickly noticed the asari were dropping and vanishing.

"Garrus, cover me!" Wrex shouted as he jumped out from cover and charged a group of heretics to the left of their entrance door that were now missing their asari.

Seeing that Wrex was focusing on a group and keeping them away from the rest he switched tactics as well.

"Liara, I need a singularity!" He ordered a biotic attack on the group on the other side of the stairs opposite the door they had come in.

With Wrex pounding on the heretics in the corner and Shepard and Ash picking off the floating platforms caught in Liara's singularity, the enemy was soon reduced to one: Benezia.

The team hastily ran up to the raised control platform with their weapons trained on Benezia.

"This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear." Benezia said as she faced them.

"This is beginning to sound a lot like brainwashing." Ashley commented to the Commander quietly.

"The rachni didn't cooperate with you. Why should I?" Shepard asked, hoping for answers. He was beginning to wonder why Harry hadn't reappeared.

"I will not betray him. You will…. You-" She faltered as she seemed to lose concentration. She looked up, but instead of the haughty matriarch they were faced with a woman who felt trapped and resigned to her own fate. "You must listen!" She said earnestly. "Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong."

"Pretty convenient timing if you ask me." Wrex clearly doubted the change.

"I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination. Saving it for a moment when I could help destroy him. It will not last long." She said sadly.

"Ticking time bomb." Ashley said as she hefted her gun and kept it trained on the woman.

"Yes, I could turn at any moment. But it will not be of my will." She admitted. "People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolise him. Worship him. You would do _anything_ for him.

"The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and immeasurable power."

"It is certainly… unique." Shepard allowed. "Where did it come from?"

"I cannot say. The geth did not build it. Its technology is far more advanced than any known species. The more you stay onboard the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet as his words pour into you." She shook her head in frustration. "It is subtle at first… I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead I became his tool. Willing and eager to serve.

"He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

"Someone on Noveria found it?"

"Two thousand years ago the rachni inhabited that region of space. They found the relay." She explained. "The rachni can share memories across generations. Queens inherit the knowledge of their mothers."

"Genetic memory." Shepard muttered to himself.

"I took the location of the relay from her memory. I was not gentle." She said with shame.

"Why does Saren need the Mu Relay?" Shepard asked.

"He believes it will lead him to The Conduit. I would tell you more if I could… but Saren did not share his counsel with me. I was merely a servant to his cause."

Shepard sighed. "You can still make this right. Give me the information."

"I was not myself… I should have been stronger." She said defeatedly as she approached Shepard. She held out her hand. "Here, I transcribed the data to an OSD. Take it. Please."

"Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough. Do you know where he planned to go from there?" Liara pointed out.

Benezia shook her head. "He shared little with me. But you must hurry. I transmitted the coordinates before you arrived.

"You have to stop… me!" She said desperately. "I can't… His teeth are at my ears!" She cried out. "Fingers on my spine!" It was clear she was losing her control.

A red bolt light flew over their heads and struck Benezia, she slumped to the floor.

The group turned with weapons raised only to see Harry de-cloak as he stood on the railing behind them.

"I've experienced mind-control." Harry said with a dark look. "She doesn't need to suffer unnecessarily."

"You killed her?!" Liara gasped before running to her mother.

"Huh? No, I stunned her. I figure we can either give her to the Council or the geth to try and deprogram her."

"The geth can do it?" Ashley asked. "Isn't this a psychological thing?"

"It's all brain chemistry according to them. They just have to look for forced or unnatural patterns and reverse them."

"It would probably be best to let the geth handle this." Garrus suggested. "I've heard that even the people who attempt to undo brainwashing can be influenced by their patients. The last thing we need is Benezia and her people trying to turn high ranking officials."

"Agreed. Harry?" Shepard turned to the wizard.

"Not a problem." He said as he hopped down and transfigured the Matriarch into a marble that he dropped into his pocket. "So, what's your name?" Harry asked as he turned to the trapped rachni queen.

Harry took a sharp breath of shock.

"Harry?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"Harry? Can you hear me?" Ashley asked as she moved to check on him.

He was unmoving, not even reacting to her hand in front of his face.

Shepard pushed his way past his teammates to the two geth platforms waiting patiently.

"Can you speak to him? Is he ok?"

One of the platforms looked at him and the VI console sprang to life nearby.

"Potter Emissary is communicating with the queen. We are unfamiliar with the method but suspect magic is involved. He is in no danger. All health signs are optimal… except his mental health which requires professional help."

"Nobody but me is allowed to tell Joker and Kaiden that!" Ashley spoke up loudly with a grin.

"We'll get him to Earth as soon as we can. Hopefully in a day or two. We need to pick up Tali and Kaiden first." Shepard promised.

"We will deliver your crewmates to your location on Potter Emissary's ship. Estimated time to departure is two days. This is subject to change based on the desires of Creator Zorah."

"Thank you." Shepard said politely. He turned to the two platforms. "Why don't you scrounge around for anything that looks useful. This is a high-tech lab after all."

"I am going to personally stab my sword in Nazara's brain!" The group was stunned at Harry's words as he came out of his trance.

"Harry… what are you doing?" Shepard asked as he watched Harry work the cage controls.

"Releasing her. She and the rachni were victims. Just like Benezia." He scowled as the cage rose up.

"Are you insane? My people suffered and bled to wipe them out last time. We still suffer." Wrex said angrily.

"Wrex, trust me. You weren't fighting rachni. You were fighting the equivalent of rachni husks. They were indoctrinated."

"And what if they get indoctrinated again?" Wrex argued.

"I'm arranging for her to be picked up and dropped off on a planet in the Perseus Veil. The geth will protect them."

"This is a mistake."

"Wrex, these creatures were slaves. They were cannon fodder for the old machines. Just like the krogan were for the Council. Just like every race is to the batarians. They deserve better just like you deserved better."

"On your head Potter." Wrex warned.

"Nothing new there." Harry said darkly.

They watched as the queen scurried out of the container and through the exit tube.

"What now?" Liara asked.

"Now we get off this planet and back to Earth." Shepard said as he watched the subdued Harry carefully.

Shepard knew that Wrex was simply covering his pride when he had claimed Harry was the only one capable of taking him on.

The truth was that Harry could decimate them all. His example of a biotic singularity was proof of that. Despite his often ruthless actions in combat, Harry was single minded in his devotion to the geth. He insisted on referring to the geth with Saren as heretics and it was only a few words with him in private that meant he gave Shepard a little leeway on missions to refer to them as geth. It would waste too much time trying to explain the difference between a geth and a heretic.

"Move out people." Shepard ordered.

"What about the hot labs? We need to activate the neutron purge." Garrus asked.

"The geth did that ages ago. They are in the system after all." Harry pointed out. "The only thing that was needed was to give the VI a code and let her activate it. The geth took out the VI and hacked the system."

* * *

><p>They took the two geth platforms with them as they headed through Rift Station telling the scientists and guards that the threat was over.<p>

There was a fairly large crowd that sat on the tram back to Peak 15. It was a sad fact that they were able to fit all of the survivors on board. Shepard had ordered the guards to hand over their weapons.

Back at the Hanshan port Harry had presented Captain Matsuo with a bill for their work. There was a separate bill to be delivered to Binary Helix for having to clean up their mess.

The group would be fairly rich soon as Binary Helix would have no choice but to pay the bill as Harry had warned Captain Matsuo that he would have them banned from Citadel space. It wouldn't be too hard when you consider they were breeding the worst enemy ever faced in two thousand years.

Back on the Normandy Harry retreated to his personal space in the rafters above Ashley's station. She thought he was just sleeping, and often he was. But the rest of the time he was furiously absorbing everything he could about slavery in the galaxy and about what had happened on Earth since he vanished.

He hated feeling lost in the new world. He needed familiarity.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N 1: Thermal Clips**

Ok... why did I have Ashley throw a thermal clip at Harry when they didn't exist in ME1? A few people seem to find that bugs them. Shepherd was 'dead' for two years between ME1 and ME2. That is NOT enough time to convert EVERY WEAPON IN THE GALAXY to use thermal clips. It was clearly a decision by the developers to switch from weapon cool downs to ammo pickups.

Lets face it; the krogan wouldn't have the money to convert all their ancient weaponry. The geth certainly wouldn't have complied with the notion.

So... to boil it down to a statement: Thermal clips always existed in this 'version' of Mass Effect.

**A/N 2: Magic vs Biotics and Magic being 'Forgotten'.**

I'm not going to go into this too much because this chapter actually deals with a lot of the whole 'loss of magic' deal. That said, you won't get more info until the end of ME2 and ME3.

HOWEVER! I will say that up to this point, Harry and everyone else is only guessing and hypothesising on what happened to magic. They have no evidence and no true account of what happened to magic. You get more hints in this chapter, but again, nothing more until ME2 and ME3.

So you'll have to wait around twenty days to find out more.

Incidentally, whenever I write a story, be it straight Harry Potter or a crossover, I have the relevant wikis open or I am watching the show/reading the book/playing the games. So rest assured that I researched biotics/magic/mass relays, drives, etc as I was writing. I consulted everything from the web to the games codexes.

* * *

><p>"<em>Harry, you might want to come up and see this."<em> Joker's voice sounded over the PA a few days later.

Harry vanished from the rafters with a quiet crack. His apparition was improving… he still scared the crap out of Ashley who glared up at the now vacant area vowing revenge.

"Huh… much quieter." Joker mused as Harry reappeared next to him. He was used to Harry teleporting around. "Will you eventually be silent?"

"I'm told it's possible." Harry shrugged. "What's the problem?" Harry asked.

Joker smiled and gestured to the cockpit window. "Welcome home Harry."

Harry's heart clenched as he saw the little blue planet sitting in front of him. He was finally home.

The problem for Harry was that according to all he had managed to find, it was nothing like he remembered.

"You ok, man?" Joker asked with concern.

"I… I've been researching Earth in this time period. I'm about to find out if my home is truly gone." He said anxiously.

"Maybe you should ask the Doc to give you something to take off the nerves." Joker suggested.

"Wouldn't work." Harry said as he sat back. "Between my wizard biology and the nanites in my system, things like drugs and alcohol don't affect me." Harry paused for a moment. "Thank you but no. I don't like the idea of being affected like that."

"Huh?"

"The geth offered to regulate my brain chemistry so I wasn't so nervous." Harry explained.

"That would freak me out." Joker said, worried for his friend.

"They would never do it without my permission unless it would save my life from imminent danger." Harry assured him. "The geth are big on respecting free will."

It took them three hours to actually land the ship at the Alliance Naval Headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. During that time Harry saw just how much Earth had changed… and it wasn't all for the better.

Sure, cities like Vancouver, were everything someone from the twentieth century might expect of a utopian society but there were cities that were sores on the landscape. Covered in smog.

Harry knew that that was where the poor and diseased were shunted off.

Harry tried to focus on the positive as he followed Shepard down the ramp. Ashley was sticking close to him even though none of them were in armour. Chakwas had also joined the ground team.

Liara was interested in human culture, Garrus wanted to see how the human military worked and Wrex… wanted a drink and a fight.

Standing at the bottom of the ramp was Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson.

Shepard and Ashley saluted as they reached the bottom.

"Welcome home Commander, Chief." Admiral Hackett nodded. "And to the rest of you, welcome to Earth."

"Thank you, Admiral." Liara smiled politely.

"I realise the necessity of shore leave, Commander. But I can only grant you two days." Hackett warned. "We have spoken with the geth and they have agreed to send Mr. Potter's ship to pick him up later should he need longer."

"I understand sir. Hopefully we'll have more time available after we catch Saren."

"We don't have any meetings set up or debriefings." Anderson stepped forward. "We felt it might help Harry if you were all to accompany him over to England. As a Londoner myself I will act as your guide with Doctor Chakwas."

"I have to ask… if you are English, why do you sound American?" Harry asked.

"Too much time amongst the barbarians." Chakwas smirked as she enunciated her own refined British accent.

"It's us barbarians who keep the enemies out of the cities, Doc." Ashley smirked.

"Yes, and then I'm the one who has to sew you back together." She said dryly.

"I see you have things well in hand, Captain." Hackett spoke up before they could devolve even further. He had read Shepard's reports and he thought the Commander was a hero for putting up with such an undisciplined crew. But he wasn't going to deny their effectiveness or heart.

"We do have one request, Mr. Potter. Would it be alright if we examined the Stingray? The geth have provided us with blue-prints but seeing it in action would be useful."

"Sure. Joker can fly it, and it can fly itself of course."

"Excellent, I will try to be here when you leave." He said as he nodded respectfully and left.

* * *

><p>Harry and the team stood on Charing Cross Road. It looked nothing like he remembered. The road was much lighter in colour. It was cleaner too.<p>

That probably had a lot to do with the huge reduction in traffic thanks to air cars.

The streetlights no longer sat on tall pillars but hovered directly over the roads.

The shops hadn't changed much. There were still an abundance of multi-cultural eating establishments… and pubs.

But there was one building that that sat between 48 Charing Cross Road and 12 Great Newport Street that hadn't changed.

The Leaky Cauldron.

"I still can't see it." Anderson sighed. "Since I landed here last week I've searched the entire street but as you can see, there is no building."

"Yes there is." Liara frowned. "It seems abandoned, based on the other buildings, but it is clearly marked as 'The Leaky Cauldron'."

"I don't see it." Garrus frowned.

"Wrex, can you see it?" Harry asked.

"Hard not to."

"My guess is that Kaiden would be able to see it too but Tali wouldn't." Harry hypothesised. "You need to be a magical and the closest thing left in the galaxy are biotics.

"Ash, take my hand and Shepard's. Liara, take Shepard's other hand and Garrus', Garrus the doctor's, doctor, you've got Anderson's. Anderson… take Wrex's."

"Why are we doing this?" Shepard asked.

"Because it is the only way I can think of to get you all past the muggle-repelling wards. Liara and Wrex can keep you in line whilst I lead."

As the group held hands, Wrex just gave Anderson a flat look and the Captain had to admit… he did feel fairly stupid holding out his hand like a child. Wrex didn't need the help and he didn't need to hold Anderson's hand whilst the human already had Liara's.

"One last thing, close your eyes." Harry instructed. It might help if you don't think you are going to walk into a brick wall.

"I feel so stupid." Ashley grumbled as Harry walked them forward, unlocking the door with a spell.

"Are we actually covering any ground?" Shepard asked a little loudly as they moved. His current lack of sight seemed to affect his vocal volume control.

"Nearly." Harry said as he looked over his shoulder. "Ok, you can all open your eyes now."

"This… is _not_ what I was expecting." Anderson commented as he took in the empty pub with cobwebs everywhere.

"Do me a favour. Don't touch anything. My sensors are picking up life forms. Nothing big, just pests. A few can give a nasty bite and I don't have any potions." Harry warned.

Instinctively the group showed their natural prowess as predators and soldiers as they formed a defensive circle.

Harry just chuckled as he walked over to the curtains that looked out onto the street. His hand shot out with seeker reflexes enhanced by geth implants. He walked back over to the group.

"Meet a doxy." He said as he held the little fairy like creature up by the neck. "Its bite is mildly venomous and this place is infested."

"Are they intelligent?" Liara asked. She was fighting the urge to reach out and touch it.

"No. They are pests."

Ashley thought the thing was ugly, she was resisting the urge to pull her sidearm. "It looks like a demonic fairy."

"Would you mind it I took that one as a sample?" Liara asked.

Harry tilted his head slightly. "Hmm, the geth recommend against it. Something about the risk of introducing foreign species and destroying ecosystems."

"Oh… of course." She was an archaeologist, not a biologist but even she knew the dangers. She would often undergo severe decontamination protocols based on the planet she was on.

"Well, there isn't much to see here." Harry said as he headed for the back door. "It's a pub but the only magic was the owners and customers. Let's go check out Diagon Alley."

As they stood in front of the brick wall Wrex couldn't help but ask: "Do I get to blast it down?"

Harry's shoulders sagged in resignation before he ejected his phoenix wand and tapped the sequence causing the wall to fold away.

"And there is _no_ technology involved?" Liara persisted. "Harry?"

"Shut up Doc." Ashley said quietly.

Harry was staring at the ghost town before him.

Everything was deathly silent. There were no people, nothing living. Just empty shop fronts.

Sure there was movement. It was less than two hundred years since Harry was last here. The magic in the photos and signs would last far longer.

But there were no people.

"They've really all gone." He finally admitted. "Those stupid fools." He said quietly. "There was never any middle ground with them. Either they hid magic from everyone or they denied it from even themselves."

"Are you sure that they didn't just lose the ability to do magic?" Shepard suggested.

"Most of the records I can access state they used biotics as a cover for magic but gradually began to forget magic altogether."

"Are you picking up any life signs?" Garrus asked.

"Just the usual pests and rodents." Harry shook his head. "I assume the goblins are still here."

"Is there anything worth looking at here?" Ashley asked.

"Sure. The Apothecary should be full of various ingredients. I should probably get a few brooms. The geth will want me to empty the bookstore.

"The only thing we can really do is see the goblins."

That said, Harry led the group down the alley towards the large, imposing building.

"It looks closed." Garrus offered.

"Wrex, would you mind knocking, hard?"

***BOOM***

"I meant with your fist."

"Oh… same thing." Wrex decided as he cocked his smoking shotgun.

"Not if they think we are attacking." Garrus argued.

Wrex just grinned at him; it seemed fairly obvious the krogan was hoping for that.

A small door set into the main doors opened cautiously. A head poked out and then vanished.

"It's a bunch of lost aliens and humans." They heard a nasal voice call back. "Bring out the memory potions."

The head popped back and gave what was possibly supposed to be a friendly smile.

It was terrifying enough that Wrex and Ashley both went for their weapons. It was only the quick hands of Garrus and Shepard that stayed them.

"Don't worry your little minds now. We'll soon have you back with your fellow primitives." It said as though they were small children.

"Listen very closely, goblin." Harry said menacingly. "I have travelled over one hundred and eighty years and thousands of light years to get back here. Either you let me get to my vaults or I will blast this door open."

That made the goblin pause.

"Vault?"

"Name of Potter, Harry James. Should have been cared for by Hermione Granger in my absence."

"Oh…. Bugger!" The goblin spat before heading back inside quickly.

"Shouldn't be too hard to deal with them." Wrex offered. "Unless they are allies… then we might have a problem… I might accidentally step on a few."

It was regrettable that Wrex was being honest and sincere. There was no malice in his statement… just an acknowledgement of his size and theirs.

He had managed to knock Harry and Tali around a few times and they were the smallest on the team. Ashley was slightly bigger due to her heavy armour… and larger 'assets'.

Liara was taller.

The goblin returned accompanied by a squad of ten goblins in armour. They carried spears and shields.

They were still under four feet tall.

"Prove you are Potter." The original goblin demanded.

"And how do you propose I do that?" Harry asked snidely.

"Where is your key?"

"Hermione had it."

"What about your wand?" The goblin grinned, it felt that it was impossible for a human to have a wand.

Harry just held up his right hand where he was still holding his wand from when he tapped the wall.

"How do I know that's not just a st-blurrrgh" The goblin sputtered as its mouth was filled with water that sent it tumbling head over heel.

"Next idiot who asks a stupid question or tries something dumb will be spewing slugs."

"Oh! I'll try that!" One goblin spoke up eagerly.

"Really?" Harry asked with a grimace.

"Slugs are a delicacy!" It said indignantly. "Now are you a wizard of his word or what?"

Harry shrugged and jabbed his wand.

The team grimaced as they watched the goblins fall into a free for all as they tried to claim the large slugs the goblin was burping up.

The goblins were nearly too engrossed in their mini battle that they didn't notice the large shadow fall over them at first.

Over a span of a few seconds they looked up one by one to see the large alien staring down at them.

"Give me one." Wrex ordered.

Very timidly on goblin held up its slug with both hands, like an offering to the gods.

Wrex snatched the slimy creature (slug, not goblin) and sniffed it once before tossing it in his mouth.

"Hmph. Anderson, tell your people that the krogan people would be interested in trade for these… slugs." Wrex declared with the authority of a leader.

"I'll be sure to get right on that." Anderson was amazed he got through that sentence without a pre-vomit hiccup. This was disgusting… and he'd seen the horrors of the First Contact War.

The first goblin had picked himself up, still dripping wet. "You have proven you are a wizard, but I still need proof of your identity."

Harry growled as he lifted his fringe to reveal his scar.

"Pfft! Do you _know_ how many humans carved their heads to try and claim the Potter vaults? Even the females tried it!"

"Then how did you prove they weren't me?" Harry demanded.

"Well… we didn't." The goblin admitted. "They just weren't able to prove that they _were_ Harry Potter."

"So you don't have a spell or ritual that can confirm who I am? I know for a fact that the Thief's Downfall will show if I am trying to steal or cheat you. How about veritiserum?" Harry challenged.

"And just _why_ should we waste our efforts on you?" The goblin sneered.

"Because… if you don't, I will raze this building to its foundation and take not only what is mine… but everything else as well." Harry glared.

"You and what army?" The goblin scoffed.

"That army." Harry jabbed a thumb over his shoulder as a grinning Wrex charged his body with biotic power showing the powerful aura that made him a Battlemaster.

The goblin gulped whilst the guards actually paused in their greedy eating.

"Wrex, think you can tear down the doors?" Harry asked.

"Harry, maybe-" Shepard was ignored.

"Happy to." Wrex grinned as he took a position to start running and increased his pull on his biotics. He seemed to vanish as he used a biotic charge and slammed into the doors, blasting them off the hinges and straight into the back of the bank.

Just like the Alley, the bank was deserted.

"You can't do this!" The goblin was aghast. You couldn't just break down the doors of Gringotts. They were enchanted to be unbreakable. A shame the same couldn't be said for the hinges.

"Looks to me like I can." Harry said dismissively as he strode into the bank lobby. "Take me to my vaults goblin or I will make good on my promise." Harry gave his best pureblood wizard impression. Which could really be anything he wanted as he was probably the only wizard on the planet with anything close to 'pure blood'.

"We will stop you!" The goblin screeched.

"And I will destroy you."

That said, he didn't kill them but he did stun them.

The goblins dropped to the floor… the one Harry had cursed was still coughing up slugs despite being passed out.

"Was that really necessary? We could have provided you with negotiators." Anderson sighed. "This is a brand new species to us. We could try a diplomatic route."

"Sure, _you_ can if you want. To me they are just a remnant of my old life." Harry said angrily. "I don't know what the problem is exactly but there is something extra wrong with the goblins. Their attitudes are the same but they didn't attack us. I'm beginning to think this lack of magic deal is bigger than I thought."

"And it is entirely the fault of you humans." Came a sneering voice.

From the back of the bank a literal army of hundreds of goblins emerged in armour led by a goblin in armour stained with blood that had purposefully never been cleaned.

"You couldn't just be content with what you had." The lead goblin snarled. "You had to go searching the stars and revealing this Element Zero. You have _destroyed_ magic."

"If that were true then the pictures and photos in the Alley would not be moving. I wouldn't be able to do magic myself." Harry countered. "It isn't magic that has been affected… it is you… _Griphook_." Harry snarled back.

"Remember me do you Potter?" Griphook smirked nastily. "Retrieving the Sword of Gryffindor allowed me to rise through the ranks. Now I command the goblin nation."

"A shame you couldn't keep the sword." Harry said as he calmly drew the sword from its current place on his back.

The team were shocked as they hadn't even noticed it due to the geth adding the same runes on the scabbard that they had to his other weaponry.

"Again you steal from the goblin nation!" Griphook screeched angrily.

"Can't steal what is mine." Harry gave a hard smile. He threw his hand out and did exactly what Shepard had ordered him not to.

He cast a singularity.

The hundreds of goblins began to float in the air helplessly.

The team desperately tried to latch onto the teller's desks to keep from floating away.

"Dammit Harry!" Shepard cursed.

Harry chuckled as he walked up to each team member and slapped a small round disc on their chests, the disk was about the diameter of a mug. There was a single button.

As Harry slapped them on they fell to the floor one by one.

"Biotic nullifier." Harry explained. "Liara, Wrex, you won't be able to use your powers whilst they are on." He warned.

Harry turned back to the floating goblins. His own nullifier was connected to his brain. It disengaged momentarily just so he could cast his biotics before it reactivated.

Harry summoned Griphook to him before slamming the armoured goblin to the floor on his back and sticking him there with a charm.

"So, tell me Griphook. Are you going to cooperate like a good little goblin, or am I going to have to get creative?" Harry asked as he placed the flat of the blade against Griphook's breastplate making it melt.

Griphook's eyes widened. "What _are_ you?" He asked with fear and awe.

"I am the baby who survived the Killing Curse… twice." Harry said slowly. "I am the boy who defeated the Darkest Lord of his time numerous times.

"I am the boy who defeated a basilisk and a dragon.

"I am the man who bested Gringotts.

"I am the wizard hit by a luck curse that sent him two hundred years into the future where goblins and humans could no longer use magic.

"So you tell me, goblin… am I a spectre of the past, here to gloat over how far you have fallen… or am I the hope for the future… the last of the magicals, here to try and revive it?"

"What is it you want?" Griphook gulped. Most of his armour had been melted off by now.

"Only what is mine and information. Empty my vaults and deliver everything to me. Then you can answer my questions. I need an exact timeline of what happened to magicals. If I am going to restore magic then I need information."

"A few goblins willing to be examined would also help." Doctor Chakwas spoke up.

Harry nodded at her.

"Well goblin? Your decision? Will you return my stuff or shall I loot you to the bedrock?"

Griphook glared at him with contempt. "Fine Potter." He spat. "But one day, when we have our magic we will meet again and there will-Urk!"

"Harry!" Shepard shouted as Griphook died with a sword in his belly and the venom of a basilisk in his veins.

Harry ignored them and turned to the rest of the shocked, scared, floating goblins.

"I am Harry James Potter. I am old and tired. I have fought for the innocent for most of my life. I followed a path of peace in my childhood and it taught me that enemies who do not want peace do not deserve life.

"The goblin nation has pissed – me – off!" Harry bit out. "I am taking this bank and everything in it. Stand in my way and I will end you."

Harry reached out and grabbed the nearest goblin who was wearing the next bloodiest armour compared to Griphook's.

"Follow me." He ordered the team.

Not wanting to be left behind to have found out that Harry had committed genocide, they quickly followed.

Once they were into the vault tunnels and beyond the effects of Harry's still churning singularity, he dropped the goblin on the floor.

"Two options." Harry said as he pointed his wand. "You willingly cooperate or I use the Imperius Curse."

"That is illegal!" The goblin gasped fearfully.

"No wizards, no laws." Harry grinned nastily.

"I'll cooperate." The goblin gulped.

"Good, take us to vault 687."

"This way." It said before hastily heading over to the nearby cart.

It would have been a tight fit, but these were magical carts capable of carrying multiple passengers.

And Hagrid.

Liara and Wrex were looking a little ill at the wild ride whilst Ashley was just glad Joker wasn't there.

Eventually they rolled to a stop.

"Open it." Harry ordered.

"I can't."

Harry's head snapped to the little creature with a glare.

"I can't! Without our magic we can't unlock the vaults!" It cried fearfully.

Harry's right eye began to twitch.

Then his left nostril.

He fought to control himself.

He failed.

"BWAHAHAHAHA"

The team stared worriedly at Harry as the goblin pouted.

"You- you little idiots! You were bluffing all this time!" Harry gasped in laughter.

"It is not funny!"

Harry stopped laughing, his mood changing from hysterical amusement to deadly dangerous. "It is now. You goblins now answer to me. Step out of line and I will end you all long before I even _decide_ to start working on magic."

The goblin visibly shrank. "Yes sir." It squeaked.

"Harry, if they can't open the vaults, how did the volus get your money?" Ashley asked.

"That money was invested in the non-magical world by Hermione." Harry shrugged. "I haven't touched what is in my vaults since I got to this time."

"Do you have a plan to get into the vault?" Shepard asked.

"Yes… and you might want to move back a fair distance."

"Shit." Ashley muttered as she grabbed Chakwas and Liara by the elbow and dragged them back.

Harry focused all his energy and power into a single biotic pull.

There was a horrible metal tearing sound before the rock walls crumbled and the vault door slammed into Harry squashing him into the far wall on the other side of the mine tracks and above the canyon below.

"Harry!" Garrus shouted.

Liara's hand shot out and she used her biotics to pull him to them. Ashley and Shepard caught him and laid him down.

Harry's face was red and puffy. His clothing was stained with blood.

"Out of the way." Chakwas snapped.

"I don't suppose he's dead?" The goblin asked hopefully.

"If he is… I'll personally wipe the lot of you out in his name." Wrex said seriously.

"He's not dead." Chakwas rolled her eyes. "A little thing like this is hardly going to stop him."

"He won't need a blood transfusion?" Anderson asked. His clothes were literally soaked.

"No, his bones are artificial but they can produce much vaster quantities of blood in an emergency."

"Eurrgh… remind me to duck next time." Harry groaned as he rolled over and sat up.

"Damn." The goblin muttered disappointedly.

"Let's get in there and clear it out." Harry sighed as he cleaned himself with magic. "Be careful though. Some of this stuff is all I have left of my family."

"We'll be very respectful." Chakwas assured him.

Deciding to try and avoid anymore Harry related incidents, Shepard sent Ashley and Garrus in first.

"Who the hell are you? A turian? Hmm… you're with a human and she isn't in chains… so I assume peace was achieved."

"Nice to see you too Hermione." Harry smiled as he entered.

Less than ten feet into the room was a full size, full-length portrait of one Hermione Jane Granger.

"Harry? Oh Merlin… I am so sorry for what I did to you." She said as she fell to her knees.

"Relax Hermione, apparently I am still on stage one of the stages of grief."

"Actually, I believe you have moved onto at least stage two: Anger." Chakwas corrected. It seemed fairly obvious based on the state he had left the goblins in.

"Still, I'll tell you I'm sorry for as long as you decide to keep me around."

"How old are you in this picture? Your twenties? How would you recognise a turian?"

"The painting was made when I was twenty three. My memories were kept updated until I died. I was one of the last magicals." She said sadly.

She was painted wearing a simple light blue summer dress whilst standing in front of a teacher's desk.

"I see you didn't change much after that last battle." Harry smirked as he pointed out the chalkboards and desk.

"This? I just wanted to make sure I had plenty of space to work. I've even got a filing cabinet and an unending supply of ink and paper."

Harry chuckled. "I'd tell you to never change, but I think it would be redundant."

"Can you tell me what happened? After you vanished?" Hermione asked nervously.

"I could… but as punishment you can wait a bit longer. I want to clear this place out before we have to head back to the ship."

"Fine." She sighed sadly. "Moody's trunk is in the corner behind me. There is plenty of space in there."

"Great, I could use some more space on the ship." Harry smiled.

As Harry moved off she beckoned to the grey haired lady.

"You're his doctor?"

"I am." Chakwas answered quietly.

"Is he really ok?"

"I'm afraid my oaths prevent me from saying." Chakwas smirked.

"I understand."

"I don't think you do. You sent him here." Chakwas shook her head. "I won't give any details but Harry has suffered more than any soldier I've ever met. The only reason we returned to Earth was to help Harry heal."

"Harry isn't a soldier." Hermione frowned.

"Exactly."

Hermione didn't like the implications, but didn't press.

"Everyone, if you could just grab the gold and throw it in, that would be great. Liara, Ash, could you two jump down and move things away from the opening?" Harry asked as he levitated the trunk over.

"I don't think we'll both fit." Liara frowned.

"Remember the Stingray?" Ashley nudged her.

"Oh." She still had trouble with what magic could do.

"Anderson, if you have questions about the magical world then ask Hermione. I'd suggest you keep her portrait in your office as she might be useful."

"I'm not staying on Earth, Harry. I only came because I was a familiar face for you."

"If you are going to the Citadel then take her with you." Harry shrugged. "I can still visit her there."

"Harry, you'll need to shrink the larger items down." Hermione warned as she saw Wrex single handedly carry a large table over.

"Miss Granger, why haven't we ever noticed this area?" Anderson asked.

"Please, call me Hermione. The simple answer is magic. A slightly more complex answer involves many hours of learning the foundations of magic."

"And that includes how you managed to hide it from our satellites as well?"

"You're thinking that magic wouldn't affect your technology." She nodded in understanding. "The thing to remember about magic is that it literally tampers with reality. There are simple aspects of magic that merely affect the perceptions of the target, but it is more than capable of altering reality within an area so that it appears to the rest of the world as though nothing is missing. As opposed to simply hiding something and leaving a void."

"_Are_ there technological ways around it?"

"Not to my knowledge, and I am fairly well versed on the topic."

"Would you be willing to answer more questions later?"

"Of course." She agreed.

Anderson decided that his immediate time would be better served helping the others load Harry's trunk.

It took them four hours to get all the gold in and the various odds and ends including Hermione. At the end Harry closed the trunk and cast a feather-light charm on it.

Ashley insisted on carrying it just for the sheer novelty of it.

When they reached the lobby Harry cast a finite at his still going singularity.

The rest of the goblins dropped to the floor with a thud.

He then grabbed the goblin that had taken them to the vault by the neck and hoisted him up to his eye level.

"Listen carefully goblin. If you forget what happened here today and try to turn on me then I will return. I will bring the large one with me and we will take our time destroying you. Understand?"

"Yeeeeettthhh" The goblin struggled to breathe.

Harry dropped the goblin. "Good. Send teams of goblins into the alley. Raid the trunk shop first and then empty the rest of the shops each into one trunk. I expect them to be delivered to Alliance Headquarters in Vancouver by tonight."

"I understand." The goblin said hoarsely and fearfully.

"Let's go people." Harry ordered as he headed for the doors.

As the team made their way out of the alley, Shepard brought up the one thing that bugged him.

"Was it really necessary to kill that goblin?"

"Wrex, if I was to go to Tuchanka, kill the leader of a clan and negotiate by means of massive demonstrations of my superior power… what would the response be?" Harry seemingly dodged the question.

"They'd probably offer you a female." Wrex mused.

"See? Goblins are just mini-krogans."

***THWACK***

***THUD***

"Damn it Wrex, was that really necessary?" Chakwas demanded as she rushed over to Harry who was now embedded in the wall leading into the Leaky Cauldron.

"He was being insulting. Needed to show him the error of his ways." Wrex shrugged.

"My bad!" Harry gasped from the floor. "I apologise."

"Don't do it again and we'll be fine."

For some reason, none of the team believed Harry or Wrex to be serious about their little spat.

* * *

><p>With all the trunks Harry had ordered the goblins to collect for him loaded onto the Normandy and Hermione safely in Anderson's possession, the ship took of and headed back towards the Citadel.<p>

Harry had confronted the truth of his situation and the state of magic. Now he just needed time to process it.

"Harry, I'm worried about you."

Harry looked up from the mess table to see Doctor Chakwas sitting opposite him.

"Not to worry, Doc. The geth think I have worked out my anger on the goblins and am moving into stage three: bargaining."

"Whilst I would agree, that wasn't what I was talking about. You left your only friend behind."

"Hermione? She isn't my only friend. I've got the geth, Ash, Shepard, Garrus, Wrex, Kaiden, Liara, Joker, you… and on those exceptionally rare days… Tali."

"You know what I mean. She was the only person left from your past."

"She's also the one who sent me here." Harry sighed as he put down his fork. "Listen, forget the fact that I am two hundred years out of time. Focus on the fact that she acted without even consulting me. It would be the equivalent of you sneaking up on Shepard, knocking him out and replacing his hand with a hook… because then he'd be able to open bottles easier.

"It is wrong. It is wrong because she denied me the choice. It is wrong because the choice she made wasn't a matter of deciding to buy me brown bread instead of white but because she decided to alter my life."

"But did she know that?" She persisted.

"She interfered in a battle between two very powerful beings. Think of it like being a spectator to a battle between King Kong and Godzilla. Except you decide to try and help out Godzilla by pumping oil under Kong's feet. Sure, he might slip. Sure, it might help Godzilla. But you can't be stupid enough not to realise all that can go wrong. Kong could push Godzilla in a bad direction… onto a nuclear power plant. Anything could go wrong.

"But here's something you need to know about wizarding culture: You do _not_ cast spells at people.

"Casting a spell at someone is the equivalent of either cutting them or forcing them to take drugs. She knew this. I was in the middle of a battle with one of the most evil people in the history of humanity and we were throwing spells at each other."

Karin Chakwas sighed. "Alright Harry. I can see you are still angry-"

"I'm not angry with Hermione. Annoyed, sure. But… well… I guess I'm conflicted. The real reason I gave her to Anderson was just to piss her off. Think of it as punishment. She is going to have to spend this time knowing I have returned but not being able to get answers.

"And trust me… she is a girl who _needs_ to have answers." Harry grinned.

* * *

><p>The Normandy soon docked with Harry's ship.<p>

"You really need to give it a better name than 'Harry's Ship'." Joker grinned.

"I never thought about naming it. The geth don't name things like that. We do it for them."

"Well, you have this cool looking ship… it _needs_ a name. Something that means something to you."

"Or means something to your enemies." Wrex countered as the crew waited to greet their missing companions.

"I promise to put some thought into it." Harry said.

"We're docked Commander." Joker announced. "Seals are green."

"Open her up, Chief." Shepard said professionally.

It took a good minute and a half for decontamination to end and the door to open.

Tali saw Harry and made a beeline for him.

"Urrk"

Bones of metal do nothing to protect a man's dangly bits.

Harry collapsed to the floor clutching his crotch.

"Bosh'tet!" She hissed.

"You seem… upset." Shepard said as he eyed Harry unconcernedly.

"That… That… what was that term?" She looked over her shoulder at Kaiden.

"Bastard." He supplied helpfully. There was a geth platform standing behind him.

"Yes, that bastard had the geth dressed up. I thought the whole thing was a joke and that I had been taken to Earth!"

"What were they dressed as?" Ashley asked Kaiden.

"Alice in Wonderland characters."

"When you say 'dressed', do you mean actual clothes?"

"Not just clothes." Kaiden grinned. "They have been working on a version of their platforms that will appear more natural. Eyes, nasal passage, mouth, so on. They are making it a cross between human and quarian in looks.

"Creepy as hell… but they are a work in progress. They wanted our opinion on how effective and realistic they are."

"But why dress as those characters? It wouldn't have any real meaning to a quarian." Shepard wondered.

"I believe the joke was for Harry's own personal amusement."

"Made you laugh." Harry grumbled as he gingerly stood up.

Based on the glare coming from Tali's mask… he kept his hands in place.

"Enough about Harry's jokes. I want to know who won the bet." Ashley interrupted.

"What bet?" Kaiden asked.

"We placed bets on how long it would take Tali to pull her shotgun." Garrus smiled.

"What?!" Tali screeched. "You are _all_ bosh'tets! And bastards!"

"She never pulled it." Kaiden frowned. "She always had it but never threatened or shot anyone."

"Why would I do that?" Tali asked. "I was on a planet full of the enemy and completely at their mercy. It would have been suicide."

Everyone just looked at Harry curiously.

"Well at least _I_ knew she wasn't stupid." He rolled his eyes before hobbling over to the geth platform.

"Come on, show me the holding cells." He instructed.

"Holding cells?" Shepard asked.

"For the asari." He explained as he held up a bag containing the marbles. "The geth can't do magic so they can't return them to asari form from marbles. Thus, we need holding cells." Harry explained before following the geth.

The cells were located where the mess hall would have been. A Destroyer and two Primes were guarding the holding cells. Harry didn't bother telling them about the stalkers hiding in the ceiling. He was beginning to feel much prouder of Tali for coping with this trip without shooting anything.

Harry entered the cell and took out one marble. He reversed the transfiguration to reveal Alestia, still unconscious. He levitated her to the side before pulling another marble.

"Ash, Garrus, can you two frisk these asari? My scans aren't picking up anything but, better safe than sorry."

"On it." Ash confirmed as she moved into the cell.

"How will you prevent their biotics?" Liara asked.

"This cell is lined with dampeners. Biotics, weapons and omni-tools won't work when the dampeners are activated."

Eventually they had the marbles all transfigured and the asari were lying in two neat little rows.

"Alright, we are done here." Harry said as exited the cell and waited for Ash and Garrus to finish frisking Benezia.

Eventually he locked the door of the cell.

"What happens now?" Liara asked.

"The geth will take them to Rannoch and scan their minds. If they need work they will do it. Then they will let them contact Thessia to talk to their superiors."

"What can _we_ do though?"

"Continue trying to find Saren." Harry shrugged as he began heading for the airlock.


	9. Chapter 9

Feros was a newly colonised planet. There weren't any permanent human structures, just a hodge-podge of mobile domiciles and labs.

What Feros did have was Prothean structures.

"Liara, why were you digging in the dirt when you could have been here?" Harry asked as they stood in the cockpit looking at the huge prothean skyscrapers that reached far beyond the clouds.

"Because I was searching for something new. Something hidden."

"And because the humans found and claimed this planet before anyone else." Garrus smirked. "Feros is a huge controversy in Citadel Space. It is the largest example of prothean culture, but the humans got there first and followed every rule regarding prothean ruins so unless they want another war the Council has to leave this planet in the hands of humans."

"Ah, bureaucrats." Kaiden said sarcastically. "Working so hard to stop the world actually working."

"Commander, we aren't getting any sort of response." Joker spoke up.

"Take us in then. Ash, you handle Harry." Shepard gave the now ritualistic order.

"Don't worry Harry, I'll get you a nice little collar and leash." Ash grinned.

Harry just glared at her.

Despite the wariness caused by a lack of response from the colony, the Normandy landed without incident. The team disembarked only to met by a single man.

"We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately." The man said with a slight hint of urgency.

"And Fai Dan would be…?" Harry asked leadingly.

"He's our le-"

"Take cover! Heretic contacts!" Harry shouted as his sensors pinged.

Shepard grabbed the man and pulled him down behind the wall for cover.

"Next time… open with the words: We are under attack!" Harry hissed at the man.

"Not now Harry." Shepard snapped. "Liara, can you cast a singularity?"

"I'll need some cover." She said as the heretic fire chipped away at the reinforced walls of the docking walkways.

"Ash! Covering fire!" Shepard ordered.

As Shepard and Ashley peppered the heretic platforms with assault rifle fire Liara poked round the side and fired off her singularity.

"Garrus, pick 'em off." Shepard instructed as he switched to his sniper rifle.

Eventually the geth were down and peace settled… a very tense peace.

"What is your name?" Shepard asked the terrified colonist.

"David, David al Talaqani."

"How many geth are there?"

"You need to speak with Fai Dan." David insisted.

"Fai Dan isn't here. How many geth are there?" Shepard repeated.

"You need to speak to Fai Dan. Fai Dan leads us."

"Fine. Garrus, you watch Mr. Talaqani. Harry, can you take the lead, covertly?"

"Sure."

"Lets move out then."

Harry moved silently and invisibly through the ancient stone staircases. Occasionally he came across a geth stalker. He dealt with it through a precision strike with his sword.

Harry eventually arrived at the colony and came face to face with a group of very nervous colonists with guns. Fortunately he was still cloaked so he placed a few strategic dampeners to eliminate any friendly fire incidents.

The team soon caught up with Harry. To Harry's surprise the colonists didn't accidentally fire.

What began to get on Shepard's nerves was that no one would talk to them. All they would so is say they should to talk to Fai Dan.

They eventually found him on the opposite side of the settlement.

"Ah Commander. I'm glad they finally sent somebody." The thin man with a pinched face and close-cropped hair said with relief.

"You're a bit late aren't you?" Said a shorter woman with short black hair and a sneering scowl.

"Arcelia!" Fai Dan chastised. "Sorry Commander, everyone is on edge since-"

"Heretic contact!" Harry shouted.

Once again they took cover.

"Those are geth in the tower!" Arcelia argued as they spotted a shock trooper and a standard trooper.

"Later." Shepard snapped.

"Protect the heart of the colony!" Fai Dan shouted.

"Oh the melodrama." Harry muttered.

"Fire in the hole!" Ashley shouted as she lobbed a grenade.

***BOOM***

The explosion caused the walls to rumble and the ground to shake… but it decimated the heretics.

"What sort of grenade was that?" Garrus asked.

"It was just a standard grenade from the armoury." Ashley said in bewilderment.

"Harry, what did you do?" Garrus asked the guilty looking wizard.

"I may have modified them to generate a mass effect detonation."

"I thought grenades were to small to hold a generator capable of generating the singularity _and_ warp fields." Shepard frowned.

"They are." Garrus nodded. "The salarians have been working on them for decades."

"Magic?" Harry gave a sheepish grin. He sighed as the others glared at him. "Fine, just don't ask me for my grenades unless you want to blow up a ship."

"We're secure for now, Commander." Kaiden reported as he and Wrex returned from the blast zone. "The protheans made things to last. The walls have crumbled a bit but they won't collapse."

"They may have slowed, but they'll be back. They always come back." Fai Dan said mournfully.

"Who are you two?" Shepard asked.

"My name is Fai Dan. I am the Administrator for the colony. This is Arcelia Silva Martinez, Head of Colony Security."

"Why haven't you evacuated if you are being invaded?" Shepard asked.

"This is our home. We are building something here for ourselves." Fai Dan said passionately. "We can't just up and leave."

"But apparently you can stay and die." Harry muttered before being pulled back by Ashley.

"Look, we'll look into the geth and try to run them off-"

"With one small team?" Arcelia scoffed. "There are hunters, stalkers and a dropship out there. How are you going to take on all of them?"

"Are you a soldier?" Harry asked as Ashley tried to keep a grip on him. "Have you ever faced an army?"

"I'm a glorified rent-a-cop. I was just hired to keep kids from putting graffiti on the walls." She snapped.

"Then shut your mouth about things you don't understand."

"Harry." Shepard said sternly.

"What? Ash just single handedly took out a squad of platforms. You don't think that deserves a little recognition? If she wants to be a rent-a-cop then she can go and make sure the colonists aren't panicking."

"Tali, Ash, take him away for a bit." Shepard ordered.

"I swear to god Harry. A leash _and_ a muzzle." Ashley muttered.

"Has he gotten worse whilst I was gone?" Tali asked curiously.

"A little bit."

"Have not." Harry said sullenly.

"He literally just had the truth of his situation shoved in his face. We stood in what was clearly once a hub of commerce and it was a ghost town. Harry is the last of his kind. All of his friends are gone. The only connection he really has is the one person who sent him here… and he is still pissed at her."

"I can't imagine what that would be like." Tali admitted.

"Imagine going back to the Flotilla and finding that every quarian was gone." Harry shrugged.

"Thank you for that future nightmare." Tali glared at him.

"So did you enjoy Rannoch?" Ashley changed the subject.

"It was as beautiful as I imagined. The geth put me in a sterile room with windows that looked out onto the city." She said wistfully.

"You got to see the city without your mask?" Ashley smiled.

"Even better. I got to take an actual bath!" Tali was practically bouncing on the spot. "Keelah, it was the best experience I have _ever_ had."

"And now I have proof you are a virgin." Ashley smirked.

"Chief!" Tali was scandalised.

"Ash, quarians haven't had sex in nearly two hundred years." Harry explained. "It's too dangerous for them to risk. The most they can do is link their suits so they can breathe the same air… exchanging bodily fluids is a… is like playing hot potato with a grenade.

"Babies are made via in-vitro."

"Wow… no wonder Tali is always so tense. All that pent up-"

"Ash… I think you might want to stop before she blushes herself to death."

"I wonder if all quarians are this easy to rile." Ashley smirked.

"Have you made a decision about the nanites?" Harry asked.

"That is a huge step."

"You took off your suit and allowed yourself to be completely vulnerable on a planet filled with your 'mortal enemy'." Harry rolled his eyes. "Think of it this way, you take those nanites and you can have a bath whenever you want."

"I live on a spaceship." She pointed out.

"Please, I can easily conjure a bath and hot water." Harry said dismissively.

Harry never noticed the manic gleam in Ashley's eye.

"Ask me when we get back to the Normandy." Tali sighed.

"Shepard, need me to come bust some heads?" Harry grinned as he spotted the rest of the team.

"We've got a few things we need to do here before we can head over to the main ExoGeni site to deal with the geth dropship."

"Heretic."

Harry was ignored.

"Do we need to stick together as a large team or can we split into smaller groups to cover more ground?" Ash asked.

"We are going to split up." Shepard confirmed. "You take Harry and Tali into the tunnels. You need to find the water controls and restore them as they are running dry up here.

"There is an alpha varren that needs to be dealt with so the colonists can hunt the rest for food.

"And there is a heretic outpost down there.

"Also, keep an eye out for power cells, heavy duty ones."

"Why can't we use some from the Normandy?" Tali asked.

"There are compatibility issues. They are too new." Shepard explained.

"Why not just ask Adams to make a converter?" Harry suggested. "I'm sure Tali and I could throw something together."

Tali nodded. "We could even make something that uses the environment, like solar energy."

"I'll leave it to you three. You might as well check the tunnels first though."

"What'll you be doing?" Ashley asked.

"The heretics are amassing in the tower. The rest of us are going to clear them out."

* * *

><p>Unlike Wrex, the team of three had no problem with sneaky and underhanded tactics.<p>

Harry couldn't go sneaking through the geth as they had more powerful sensors in the tunnels. But that didn't stop them from making use of Harry's skills such as his singularity.

It gave new meaning to the phrase: 'shooting fish in a barrel'.

The water valves were staggered at various locations so they were easily sorted.

Dealing with the alpha varren pissed Harry off. It took one bullet from Ashley and the thing went down. He couldn't figure out why the colonists couldn't kill it themselves.

They also found a couple of power cells.

"Does this strike anyone as a little too convenient?" Harry asked as he pulled the cells from an old abandoned Grizzly.

"What do you mean?" Tali asked.

"We just happen to stumble across a couple of power cells that are exactly what the colonists need? Honestly, it would have been easier and more efficient to make a converter for the Normandy's cells."

"Do they even have a charge?" Ashley asked as she maintained a watch for trouble.

"A little. Not enough to run a whole colony on for little more than a month though." Tali answered as she examined the cells Harry was passing down.

"Well, we can't force them to leave. We just have to do what we can before we find out what Saren was looking for."

"I still say we should have dealt with that first." Harry grumbled as he hopped down off the nose of the Grizzly. "We are wasting time here plus as soon as we leave the heretics could just flood the tunnels again. If we took out the dropship then they wouldn't have reinforcements to send."

"You can argue with the Skipper later Harry. Just do it in private. It's bad form to question a superior officer in front of others."

"I'd never do that!" Harry was hurt. "Not unless he was about to get us killed."

"You did it to the Council." Tali pointed out.

"They don't count." Ashley assured her. "They're just politicians."

The team managed to take out the remaining heretics as well as three krogans and the heretic beacon.

Shortly after that they met Ian Newstead.

The man seemed half insane and half something else.

Personally, Harry thought that it was half insane and half crazy.

"Alright, simple questions." Harry decided having had enough of the 'thorn' talk Ian was spouting.

"One: Are you insane?"

"Nope." Ian smiled cheekily.

"Two: Is your mind being affected by something external?"

"Yeeuurgh!" Ian started banging the railing in agony.

"Three: Are the rest of the colonists affected."

"YEEEEESS!" He shouted and laughed in triumph.

Harry waved his hand, casting a stunner. He then transfigured him into a marble.

"At least this way he won't be in any pain." Harry explained. "We can also get him to Chakwas."

Having rendered the tunnels safe and completed their mission the team headed back to the colony, Zhu's Hope.

"What are we going to do about the other colonists?" Tali asked. "Ian said they were being controlled as well."

"He could have been lying… he could have been delirious." Ashley mused.

"And he could have been telling the truth and we have been walking through a den of sleeping dragons unawares." Harry pointed out.

"What are dragons?" Tali asked.

"Coolest creatures I have ever seen." Ashley said wistfully as she remembered the dragon she glimpsed in Gringotts.

"I might have a book with pictures." Harry said. "I'll ask the geth to check what the goblins retrieved."

"Back to the colonists, do we just play ignorant?" Ashley asked.

"Why not have Harry sneak through the colony and stun all of them?" Tali suggested.

"One hundred and fifty colonists all controlled by something? I could do it but it would take time. Plus things could get dangerous if they notice people are missing."

"Don't suppose you have a way to knock them all out at once?" Ashley asked with hopeful doubt.

"Not that I know of. The other problem isn't alerting the colonists but alerting whatever is controlling them."

"Could the ge- heretics be doing it?" Tali asked.

"I doubt it. I am the first attempt for the geth on manipulating a biological brain. Everything they did was based on what they could download off the digital libraries in Citadel space. The heretics only know what Nazara taught them and the closest thing we've seen are the mindless husks."

They reached the stairs and Ashley stopped and rubbed her temple in frustration. "Harry, are you sure you can't think of a way to deal with the colony in one shot?"

"Given time Tali, Chakwas and I could come up with the equivalent of a neural shock bomb. But we would need a few days to build it and a place to test it. There is also the danger of side affects such as strokes and heart attacks.

"Stunning and transfiguration have no adverse affects." He didn't bother mentioning the effects of receiving multiple stunners at once as he was the only wizard around.

"Alright, you handle the colonists. Tali and I will stay out of sight by joining up with the Commander and telling him the plan." Ashley decided.

* * *

><p>Whilst Harry was quickly sneaking through the colony and stunning everyone he could find, Ashley and Tali bounded up the stone stairs to find Shepard and the others pinned down by heretic sniper fire.<p>

"Tali, excellent. Can you do something about those snipers?" Shepard asked as Kaiden threw out another biotic throw, pushing back the oncoming Destroyer.

Tali quickly accessed her omni-tool. "Cover me!" She shouted.

"Open fire!" Shepard ordered.

As the rest of the team popped up and began firing on various heretic positions, Tali also popped up and sent an Overload at one geth sniper and a Sabotage at the other. She then summoned her drone and sent it up behind the two snipers where it would continue to sabotage the two platforms.

"Ok, the snipers are stalled but we should hurry before my drone runs out of charge."

"About time!" Wrex growled as he leapt over the concrete barrier they were hiding behind and charged the Destroyer. His barriers were flickering wildly as he was hit by multiple shots, but it was nothing compared to the damage it took before from the high powered sniper rifles.

"Get to it people!" Shepard shouted as he popped up and began firing at the troopers.

It took only five minutes to mop up the platforms and most of that was ensuring the platforms were completely disabled.

"That's one hell of drone, Tali." Kaiden remarked. "Does it even have a physical body?"

"It has a hard light construct. Some models use silicon-carbide generated by an omni-tool." She explained.

"Where's Harry?" Shepard asked, noticing his team was one short.

"We think we discovered why the colonists where so cagey about us asking questions and so… lethargic about giving answers." Ashley explained. "We believe they are under some kind of mind control. We found a man in the tunnels suffering a lot of pain just trying to fight it. He indicated that everyone was suffering.

"The three of us discussed options and decided that the safest solution was to have Harry sneak through the colony and stun them all and turn them into marbles. We came here to fill you in and help out whilst he works."

Shepard did not look happy. This was a huge decision and it seemed like his Gunnery Chief had shouldered the responsibility. He knew she had the experience and ability, but this was still way above her pay-grade and it cut him out of the loop.

Still, he understood that options were limited and she had done what she believed was best without intending to undermine him.

"How long do you think Harry will take?"

"Like he said, a hundred and fifty colonists _and_ he has to make sure they don't notice they are disappearing."

"I also don't like the fact that he doesn't have backup." Shepard sighed. "We can't afford to wait any longer. We need to head to the ExoGeni research base to deal with the geth before they regroup."

"I could stay and wait for Harry to finish." Liara offered. "My knowledge of fighting geth is limited to how hard I can hit them with my biotics. Tali will be far more useful to you against the geth."

"Fine. Kaiden, you stay with her, I don't like people being without backup." Shepard scowled. "The rest of us will head out."

* * *

><p>Kaiden and Liara spent their time waiting just inside the stairwell exit to the colony. The immediate area had obviously been cleared by Harry already so they sat on the stairs monitoring their basic sensors and watching the number of life sign signals dwindled as Harry worked.<p>

They also exchanged tips on biotic techniques and stories of their training.

"Are you two old biddies finished nattering?"

The pair jumped as Harry de-cloaked in front of them.

"How did you do that?" Kaiden asked as he examined the previously absent life-sign of Harry on his sensors.

"Simple, magic." Harry grinned.

"Really?" Liara asked.

Harry laughed. "Of course not! My armour has a system that can disperse the energy I give off. Only effective if I don't fire my weapons or magic."

"Oh. You got all the colonists then?" Liara asked.

"Every last one. Where are the others?"

"They went on to the base." Kaiden answered.

"We might as well join them." Harry said as he stretched.

"We'll have to check the hanger to see if there is a spare vehicle." Kaiden said as he stood and the group headed up to the elevator.

"Regrettably for the others, I happen to know that they didn't take the Stingray. We can use that."

"Why regrettably?" Liara asked.

"Do you not remember Noveria?" Harry grinned.

Liara looked positively ill as she remembered experiencing Shepards attempt at driving.

The group encountered a lone pair of guards in the hanger. Harry stunned them in the back.

"Wrex would be so disgusted." Liara chuckled.

"He's fighting heretics. He'll be fine." Kaiden pointed out.

Waiting just beyond the hanger doors was the Stingray. They quickly boarded.

"Joker, you there?" Harry asked as he took the pilots seat and used his neural interface to get them going.

"_Harry? Thank god. We've lost contact with the Commander. Something is blocking the signal."_

"It's not at the colony as we just cleared the place." Kaiden reported. "It is probably coming from the geth-"

"Heretic."

"Not now Harry! The heretic ship at the ExoGeni research base." Kaiden glared at the smug wizard who was piloting them over destroyed remains of _heretic_ platforms.

It was obvious that Shepard had been here.

"Lieutenant, I'm picking up radio signals coming from nearby." Liara spoke up from the sensor station.

"You hear that, Joker? We'll check it out and see if they've seen Shepard." Kaiden told the Normandy's pilot.

"_Roger that, LT. We'll keep pinging the Commander from here."_ Joker assured them.

Harry easily piloted them through a few vehicle doors before they came to a set of ramps heading up to a higher level and one heading down.

Harry transferred control to the geth and the three teammates disembarked to head down to where they were picking up life signs.

"Oh lovely, more soldiers." A man in a long over jacket said sarcastically. "I suppose you're here with the others."

"Ethan, would you calm down." A woman standing nearby sighed. "Can I assume you are with Commander Shepard's team?"

"Yes Ma'am." Kaiden stepped forward. "Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, Doctor Liara T'Soni and Harry Potter." He introduced them.

"I'm Juliana Baynham and this is Ethan Jeong. Your Commander was here not long ago before he headed to the research base."

"Yes, and if we're lucky he might actually focus on them instead of trying to steal company secrets or searching for your obviously dead daughter!"

***THWACK***

***THUD***

The sound of multiple weapons being pointed at Harry was heard as Jeong fell to the floor unconscious.

"Stand down!" Juliana snapped.

"Sorry about that Ma'am." Harry said with a small bow. "Action needed to be taken for the insults and I felt your hands were better suited to other things." He said dryly.

Juliana looked gratefully at Harry but still worried about the men pointing the guns at him.

"Lower those weapons now." Kaiden said sternly.

The guards looked torn.

"Fine." Harry rolled his eyes. "Alright, how many people want to get home?"

Many of the scientists put their hands up.

"How many of you want to survive this?"

Those hands stayed up and one or two guards joined them.

"Well, I have a vehicle that can take you all to the colony and away from the geth. You can either follow the orders of Doctor Baynham here who has the common sense and compassion to actually fight for your lives… or you can follow this pile of niffler dung who would throw you in the line of fire just to save a single scrap of paper so the big wigs will pat him on the head."

The rest of the guards slowly lowered their weapons.

"Excellent." Harry nodded firmly before turning back to Juliana. "Doctor, you are in charge of your people now. I recommended heeding the instructions of this highly experienced Alliance officer until his superior arrives."

"Are you sure you're not the one in charge?" She asked curiously.

"Nah, I'm just here to piss people off… and punch the occasional jerk." He kicked the man at his feet lightly. "Hey! Someone might want to tie up this idiot, if he wakes up you might want to gag him too. He's guilty of endangering the lot of you." Harry called over to the guards.

Jeong was quickly removed.

"How long has it been since the Commander was here?" Kaiden asked.

"Less than an hour. He didn't seem concerned at all." Juliana whispered to them. "It really helped to boost everyone's confidence."

"He does have that knack." Kaiden smiled. "Listen, you should be safe here. There is no danger from the direction of the colony and the Commander would have taken care of any units between here and the base. My team and I are going to follow after him and check, just in case. We also need to find out what is blocking radio signals to the base."

"We should be fine here." Juliana assured them.

Harry and the team headed back to the Stingray, as they left, Harry's geth platforms deployed themselves at the entrance to the ramps but out of sight of the humans. There was no point leaving their safety to chance.

Like the first half of their trip, the second was just as uneventful. There was the occasional heretic platform that had escaped the wrath of Shepard, but Harry or Kaiden easily took them out.

Then they spotted a Mako parked outside a narrow entranceway into the ExoGeni base. Harry landed them and left the geth in control as they disembarked.

"Shepard? You didn't wait?" Harry pouted as they saw the team emerge from a large archway to the left with a young woman.

"You're the one who went off on a solo mission without consulting me." Shepard said pointedly.

"Didn't want to risk them intercepting our radio chatter." Harry shrugged. "You Juliana's daughter?" He asked the woman.

"Yes, Lizbeth Baynham, thank you for coming."

"It was fun. Got to punch a jerk." Harry grinned as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Lieutenant?" Shepard asked tiredly.

"The man in charge, Ethan Jeong, was being unhelpful and insulting to a female scientist… Harry took punitive measures."

"That is probably a good thing though." Liara offered. "He also managed to get the trust and cooperation of the survivors."

"How did you get here?" Ashley asked. "There was only one vehicle in the hanger.

"I asked the geth to bring the Stingray round, we flew- urk!" Harry was glomped by two females.

"It was so horrible!" Tali wailed as she and Ashley clung to Harry. "He kept driving and he got so close to the edge! Wrex even pulled his shotgun but he wouldn't stop!"

"Hey! That never happened!" Shepard objected.

"It _nearly_ happened." Wrex growled as he caressed his shotgun.

"I don't know how _any_ of you have survived this long if you can't survive a little drive." Shepard growled as he stomped off towards the waiting vehicles.

"Don't worry. He's probably just jealous because you get to do brash things like hit annoying people whilst he has to remain professional." Garrus patted Harry on the shoulder as he followed the Commander.

* * *

><p>The team had already dealt with the geth and the jamming device so they immediately headed back.<p>

The trip back to the other survivors had been short.

The only thing of note was Lizbeth's gasp of shock and statement of the obvious: "It's bigger on the inside!"

Liara was drafted into stowing the guest in back with the storage so she was out of the way. Ashley assisted in standing guard.

They got back to the other survivors with ease.

Shepard took the opportunity to use the gun controls to vent his frustrations on any remaining heretics that were too stupid to abandon their platforms.

Things got a little heated once the colonists were on board. Jeong was tossed in the holding cell and subjected to an interrogation by an angry Shepard.

"You want to give me some sort of explanation about using the colonists as guinea pigs that won't have me throwing you to the Council?" Shepard demanded angrily.

"They're just a few colonists… who's going to care about them?" Jeong shrugged.

"Wow… just… wow." Ashley said in shock.

"Damn you." Shepard hissed through the bars. "If I didn't have a standing policy to shoot every batarian raider I saw on sight then I would gladly let them have you."

"John, what happened?" Harry asked quietly.

In that moment Ashley decided the two needed some space so she nudged Liara and they left them to it.

"This bastard knew about what was controlling the colonists and was letting it happen, just so they could experiment and make some money off what they found."

"One of the worst humanity has to offer." Harry said as he sneered at Jeong.

"No one cares about a few misplaced colonists if the ends are worth it." Jeong snapped.

"Really? Because you are currently on a ship surrounded by people who care."

"Small fry. You don't have any power. ExoGeni will write them off as an expense and move on to the next project."

"You're thinking too big picture." Harry shook his head. "You need to focus on the here and now."

"This is just an inconvenience." Jeong smirked. "My contacts in ExoGeni will have me cleared of any charges."

"Of course they will." Harry agreed. "As long as you make it off this ship alive."

"Wh-what?"

"This is not an Alliance vessel. It isn't even a Spectre vessel. This is _my_ vessel. We fly under a sovereign flag where my rule is law."

"Harry."

"Not yet, John." Harry said softly. "Now, I don't like killing people. I'm only eig- twenty years old and I killed my first person when I was eleven… but I hate it.

"But there is one thing I have learnt the hard way: The fool I kill today won't be able to hurt others tomorrow.

"Sometimes, to save a life you have to take a life.

"So here is the deal, Mr. Ethan Jeong, your life, as you know it, is over. You can either accept what you have done and confess and testify in court against ExoGeni or you can keep quiet… and suffer justice at my hands.

"You have two hours to decide." Harry then stepped out of the holding area.

"Follow me." He told Shepard quietly.

Harry led him to the crew quarters. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but be awed by the amount of space in the small ship. It was almost as big as the Normandy.

Once inside, Harry locked and sealed the room. They only had a few minutes until they reached Zhu's Hope.

"I'm sorry about that, John." Harry sighed as he sat at one of the tables. "I didn't mean to undermine you, I just… I know how governments work. They are set up to protect the people with the most money and he will get away scott free if he doesn't agree to testify."

"Are you serious about killing him if he doesn't agree to your terms?" Shepard asked as he sat opposite the younger man.

Harry allowed himself a small smile. "I never told him I was going to kill him. Death seems a little too… forgiving… for a man who forced his people to be mind controlled."

"Torture?"

"God no! Hard labour, maybe."

"Will you let me talk to Udina and Anderson first?"

"I'm not going to stop you doing anything, John. You are _not_ a prisoner. I will not restrict you in anyway unless you are a danger to the innocent.

"I'll even listen to you if you want to try and convince me of a better way. I'm just… tired. I've lost everything and… I'm struggling to find something to live for."

"You've got the geth… and Ash." There was a very slight hint of bitterness.

But Harry picked up on it. He smiled evilly. "Yeah, she's great. I guess she was my first friend in this world. She's a lot smaller than the first friend I ever made… of course he was a half-giant.

"I feel close to her. Almost… responsible." He rubbed his chin in mock thought. "I feel that, as her friend, it is my responsibility to ensure that her suitors are respectful yet appropriately attentive and affectionate.

"So tell me… what are you intentions to my friend, John Shepard?"

Shepard rolled his eyes as he stood. "And we are done. I'll be in the cockpit."

The sound of Harry's maniacal laughter followed him out.

They may have left Earth a little too quickly.

* * *

><p>They took the Stingray straight back to the Normandy where several of the Normandy's marines took up guard duty on the scientists.<p>

Harry handed the bag of colonists to Chakwas and then the team headed back to the colony on foot.

"Are those husks?" Ashley asked as they saw green, completely organic versions of the monstrous zombies they had encountered on Eden Prime.

"They definitely aren't human." Shepard frowned. "The question is: are they hostile?"

"I realise that you are just being cautious… but isn't that obvious?" Harry asked. "How many times have we encountered a something on a mission and it wasn't hostile?"

"Twice." Liara said quickly. "The rachni queen and myself."

Harry sulked as he pulled out his sword. "Fine. Wait here whilst I go and check."

Harry rolled his eyes as he heard the group ignore him and follow.

"Hey, are you awake?" Harry prodded the hunched and crouched figure with his foot.

"I'm not picking up much energy." Liara said as she examined her omni-tool. "It is almost as though they are in a coma."

"You just _know_ we are going to get to the middle of them and they are going to turn on us." Garrus sighed.

"We'll deal with it when we have to. We still don't know if they are the enemy or where they came from." Shepard received a number of disbelieving looks. "I realise the chances of that are slim but we can't take the chance and wind up killing the innocent based on an assumption."

"At least your heart is in the right place." Harry smiled. "Lead on Skipper!"

Shepard just growled as he stepped around the crouched green husks and led them to a crane system that was connected to one of the pre-fab units. He activated the controls to lift the unit out of the way revealing a staircase under the compound.

"Hmm… last time I went down a dark hole I had to deal with an army of the un-dead. Time before that I had to deal with a werewolf and the man who betrayed my family and the time before that there was a giant snake… are you sure you want me with you for this?" Harry asked with a teasing smile.

"Harry, the important part about all of those things is that you came out alive. So yes, I vote you come with." Kaiden said firmly.

"I vote he goes first!" Garrus chuckled.

"Seconded." Tali piped up.

"All in favour?" Liara attempted not to giggle.

Everyone but Wrex raised their hands.

"Lovely. Harry Potter: Bait." Harry sighed as he headed towards the ominous opening. "So, this Thorian, it's a plant, right?"

"According to the ExoGeni scientists." Liara confirmed as they walked.

"I don't suppose some weed killer would work then?"

"Humans." Liara said in disgust. "Always looking to kill what they don't understand."

"No, that would be turians." Ashley grinned as she patted Garrus on the shoulder.

"Actually, it wasn't bloodthirsty-ness that made us attack humans, it was the fact that we tend to follow the rules a little too closely. There were strict laws about tampering with Mass Relays. But there were no exceptions or provisos for new races that didn't know about the Citadel and the Council.

"So… I guess you could say it was stupidity." He mused.

"Which explains why they are on the Council. Politics and stupidity go hand in hand." Harry pointed out.

"Then why isn't Udina on the Council?" Ashley countered.

"His arrogance exceeds his stupidity."

The group looked at the Commander in shock.

"Wow, he must really piss you off." Harry grinned over his shoulder.

"I'm picking up a large open area ahead." Tali warned.

The group continued on for a further twenty metres before coming to an awed stop.

"_That_ is not a plant." Wrex commented.

"I think this is a unique species." Liara said as she examined the large, dripping green… plant/creature. "It has many systems similar to animals but also various plant based cells."

"Something's happening." Harry warned as he pulled Liara back. "It's got something humanoid in its… mouth."

It was not a pretty sight as the maw seemed to… vomit up a green asari.

Fortunately there were no carrots or corn.

"Invaders!" The green asari said accusingly. "Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose."

"Well… it definitely talks like a plant." Harry mused.

"How many plants have you spoken to?" Ashley hissed.

The green asari continued. "I speak for the Old Growth."

"She should probably have that removed." Harry stage whispered.

"You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe!"

"Humble little thing, isn't she." Kaiden muttered.

"You spoke with a turian not long ago. Saren. You gave him something. I need it." Shepard said as he took a step in front of the group.

"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the Long Cycle. Trades were made."

"Trades? That doesn't sound good." Garrus said.

"Then the cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. Flesh freely given! The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies! It will listen no more!"

"Just a second." Harry said loudly as he stepped forward. "I don't think you have fully understood the severity of your situation. Most of us here are omnivores.

"We eat your kind and gain strength from it. But we also eat other animals. We are… a threat to you."

"Harry." Shepard muttered warningly.

"But one amongst us is a natural predator of your kind. He eats nothing but plants. Tearing through the green fields of planets and devouring that which grows in the soil.

Harry's voice dropped a few tones and he said in a dangerous tone: "A vegetarian!"

The crew began exchanging curious looks.

"Kaiden… dinner is served!"

Everyone look at Kaiden… including the green asari.

Kaiden had a definite 'deer in the headlights' look.

"Harry!" He hissed irritably. "I am _not_ a vegetarian!"

"You're not?" Harry was confused. "You definitely seem like one."

"Well… even if I _was,_ I wouldn't eat… _that_." He nodded at the Thorian.

"Oh… my mistake." Harry shrugged apologetically.

"You fill the air with your meaningless vibrations. You are no threat. The Old Growth will see you feed the ground for new growth!" The asari began building up a biotic charge.

"Uh uh ah!" Harry wagged a finger. "We may not have any of the fearsome vegetarians here but that does not mean we are to be trifled with."

Harry quickly whispered into his palm before a small flame appeared there. "Behold, fiendfyre. The most dangerous fire in the known universe. Move against us and I will send my fire across this world destroying you and everything else."

"More lies."

Harry gave a quick puff across his hand and a blast of fire engulfed the asari causing it and the Thorian to scream as the asari was burnt to a cinder. The walls and ground shook as the various branches leading out from the Thorian struggled to cope with the pain.

"Harry…" Shepard said warningly.

"Quiet Shepard. I'm being diplomatic."

Wrex could be heard chuckling.

"I'm waiting." Harry said to the Thorian, his palm still holding the flame ready.

The Thorian began to convulse again before repeating the nauseous action of vomiting a replacement green asari.

It glared at Harry.

Harry just smirked. "Tell me, Little Weed, are you willing to behave?"

"How do we know you will keep your word? Saren betrayed us, will you?" The asari asked.

"I will make a deal with you." Harry said as he lowered his hand slightly. "Give me what I want and I will take the flesh from here. I will tell the rest of the flesh in the galaxy that this planet is yours and not to be touched."

"Why would you do this?"

"Because I've been doing too much killing recently. Maybe one day you and the flesh can learn to live together. But clearly neither of you are ready yet."

"Any who land on this world will be mine."

"Any who land by choice. Those who crash without choice will be retrieved quickly and you will be allowed to remain in peace."

The asari considered this for a moment. "We agree."

"A sign of trust then." Harry said. "Commander, take the crew and leave. Send the Stingray for me and I will meet you in orbit."

"Harry-"

"It will be fine, Shepard. The Thorian and I are both honourable. It was Saren who betrayed it, not the other way round."

"We will not harm the flesh if the flesh does not harm us." The asari confirmed.

"You've got thirty minutes and then we're coming for you." Shepard warned.

"Just make sure you run."

Harry listened to the sound of footsteps quickly receding, his eyes never leaving the asari.

"What do you need to survive?" Harry asked.

"Air, water and fertile soil. Nothing more."

"Then why did you control the flesh?"

"They were harming us. We turned them so that they tended to us instead."

"This… flesh you have made." He indicated the green asari. "It can read, write, use the machines of the flesh?"

"It remembers everything the original did." The asari nodded.

"Have it make use of the machines left in the colony. There are many creatures in the universe that are experts at tending the fertile soil. We may be able to trade in the future."

"You are very generous." The asari said suspiciously.

"Like I said, I've been doing a bit too much killing recently. This is me; making amends."

"We will remember you." The asari said respectfully.

The asari's headed tilted. "The flesh have gone to the sky."

"A smaller ship will return for me and I will leave, true to my word. As long as you provide me with what you gave Saren." Harry reminded it.

The asari looked to its left and a large slimy pod on the wall opened to deposit an identical, unconscious asari on the floor. Identical apart from being a more natural blue.

"This one is the original. It knows what we gave Saren. It will give you what you need. Take it with our thanks."

Harry gave a respectful bow, knowing that the asari would understand.

"Do you have a name, flesh?"

"My name is Harry Potter. Emissary of the Geth."

"We will remember you, Emissary." The asari inclined her head.

Harry walked over to the barely conscious blue asari and cast a _mobilus corpus_ causing her to levitate. "I will send a couple of ships filled with peaceful cold ones to wait in the sky. They will ensure you are not disturbed by the flesh until you tell them you are ready."

"Thank you." The asari said.

Harry nodded and headed up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Whilst the Normandy headed to the Citadel to unload the colonists, the team met in the conference room to interrogate the asari that the Thorian had given Harry.<p>

"My name is Shiala." The asari told them. "For nearly two centuries I served Matriarch Benezia. I was with her when we joined Saren."

"Now there's a dumb move." Ashley muttered.

"Chief." Shepard said warningly. "Please continue."

"The Matriarch warned us that we would be risking everything including our own free will. Our goal was to try and guide Saren away from his current path."

"Why not just kill him? Or take him prisoner?" Kaiden asked.

"It wasn't that simple. At the time, all Saren had done was talk. But talking was Saren's power." She said ominously. "His words… they would permeate your body and soul. His desires became your desires. Dying for him was not a choice but a passion."

"Benezia said the same thing." Garrus nodded.

"You have spoken with the Matriarch?" Shiala asked hopefully.

"She is with the geth who didn't join Saren." Shepard explained. "They are working to reverse the indoctrination via manipulating her brain chemistry."

"They can be trusted." She said with certainty.

"How can you be so sure?" Liara asked curiously. Most people would hear about the geth and panic.

"Saren had mentioned plans to eliminate what he referred to as 'blasphemers'."

"I'm staking my claim on Saren's hide here and now." Harry scowled. "He's the 'false prophet'."

"How are the geth taking that news?" Ashley asked carefully.

"They are reinforcing their firewalls and protections. They are… afraid of being indoctrinated."

Harry tilted his head as he listened to the geth.

"Look, your actions are those of people who are frightened. Just because you don't have organic emotions doesn't mean you don't have your own version. You just haven't labelled them yet." He spoke to the air.

"What is the Master talking to?" Shiala asked Shepard.

"Master?"

"The Thorian has altered me to be loyal to the Emissary. It is part of my punishment for following Saren the Betrayer." She explained.

"What?!" Harry and Tali cried in shock.

"It seems fitting to me." Shiala shrugged.

"You would think that." Liara said slightly disgusted. "You've been brain washed to."

"No, I have only been conditioned so that I must follow his orders and protect him. I may still disagree with him or… hate him, but I see no reason to. I remember his conversation with the Thorian. I have faced some of the worst this universe has to offer in my time as a commando but very few have been honourable. The Master could have easily destroyed the Thorian and myself but he kept to his word. I cannot say for certain, but I believe the Thorian will consider him an ally, at the very least, neutral."

"Can you at least call me Harry?"

"Of course. 'Master' is simply your status with regards to myself." She smiled softly.

"What about the information the Thorian gave Saren?" Shepard asked. They would deal with issues of slavery later.

"The information is a cipher. It is the knowledge of the culture and language of the protheans." She explained. "Saren needed this information to understand the message in the beacon he had acquired."

"So if you gave me the cipher I would be able to understand all these visions I keep having?"

"Once you have taken the time to assimilate it, yes."

"Alright, how do we do this? Is there a neurological interface?"

"No, I must merge our minds temporarily in order to imprint the knowledge. Try to relax commander. Slow, deep brea-"

"Stop." Harry said quietly.

"Harry?"

"I know exactly what will happen if you do this here and now. A certain… physician will give you a lecture that may very well last until the day you die if you don't do this under her supervision."

"He has a point, Commander." Kaiden tried not to smirk.

"Agreed." Shepard sighed. "We'll meet in the med lab in a few hours. I should debrief the Council first."

"Oh goody!" Harry said gleefully.

"Want me to babysit Harry, Skipper?" Ashley offered.

"No… he is actually useful." Shepard admitted reluctantly.

"Shiala should probably stay too." Harry pointed out. "Tevos would be hard pressed to ignore the word of a seasoned asari commando."

"Agreed." Shepard nodded.

"One last thing before you all go." Harry said as he addressed them all seriously. "No one is to mention Shiala's state with regards to me beyond this room. Not to the rest of the crew, not to the Council, not to Benezia and not to the Alliance. I believe she went into this business with Saren and Benezia with good intentions and she doesn't deserve to be classed as a servant of some sort."

"Harry, you can't expect-"

"John, I have the ability to remove memories. If anyone here feels they can't keep this a secret then speak up and I will remove just that little bit of knowledge." Harry looked the Commander straight in the eye. "Shiala is my responsibility. I will defend her just like I defend the geth and the rest of you."

"I don't like this, Harry."

"You don't have to. But if you want you can think of it this way: I have the ability to turn every single one of you into slaves. How would you like it if I not only did that but then paraded you around the Citadel?"

"You can really do that?" Liara asked sceptically.

Harry's wand shot into his hand and pointed at Liara in less than a second.

Liara jumped out of her seat and started prancing around like a chicken making cluck-cluck noises.

"Harry!" Shepard said angrily.

Harry cancelled the non-verbal _imperio_ and holstered his wand.

"Any more doubts?" He asked the now very frightened asari.

Liara shook her head violently, fearing he might try something else.

"All of you but Harry and Shiala out. We'll do as Harry asks for now." Shepard ordered harshly.

Once the room was clear Shepard turned on Harry. "Don't you ever do that to one of my crew again or I don't care how powerful you are I will toss you out the airlock."

"John, all I did was a harmless little demonstration. I have no need or desire to control you or anyone else on this ship. Liara just needed another demonstration. She tends to fall back into the asari way of thinking that humans are primitive.

"But I can promise you that I _will_ be casting that spell on all of the ground team members numerous times between missions."

Shepard looked apoplectic.

"It is the only way I know of that let's you learn how to break the hold of the curse. That curse is useless on me because I can fight it off. I'm hoping that if you can all learn to fight off my _Imperious_ curse than you can withstand indoctrination."

Shepard didn't have an argument for that. "I still don't like it." He felt he needed to voice his anger in someway.

"John, when you've been forced to turn on your friends or lay down and die by that curse, then you can tell me you don't like it." Harry said bluntly.

Shepard looked at Harry, all he saw was a very tired young man. He turned away. "Joker, patch me through to the Council."

"_Aye sir."_

The holographic images flared to life.

"_Commander, ExoGeni should have told us about the Thorian. It would have made your job easier."_ Tevos said in lieu of a greeting.

"_We might still be able to capture it for study."_ Valern pointed out.

"No. You can't." Shepard said firmly. "We negotiated a deal with the Thorian, as long-

"_That thing attacked a colony and we don't deal with plants!"_ Sparatus snapped.

"It was acting in self-defence. ExoGeni was trying to experiment on it and Saren tried to kill it." Shepard argued. "It was only thanks to Harry's diplomatic overtures that we were able to leave peacefully with the information we needed."

"_I see you are struggling to make the hard decisions, Commander."_ Sparatus said smugly. _"I knew it was a mistake to make you a spectre."_

"'Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defence. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold.'" Harry quoted. "Those are the exact words you used, _Councillor_. Spectre Shepard managed to not only diffuse a potentially lethal situation but managed to acquire some good will with the only known intelligent creature that was alive when the protheans were around.

"Or are you really so eager to shed more blood?"

"_Enough."_ Tevos said firmly. _"The Commander has done well. He has not only saved the colony but he has also upheld the reputation of the Council, as all spectres should._

"_Goodbye Commander. We'll be waiting for your next report."_ Tevos said as she cut the connection.

"I can see why you would want Harry here." Shiala chuckled. "It is very rare that someone can argue the Council into a corner."

"Unfortunately we didn't get to tell them about you." Shepard sighed.

"With your permission I will make a report to Councillor Tevos later."

"We're headed to the Citadel, you can do it then. Let's get down to the med bay to do this transfer. You will need to be checked out by the Doctor as well."


	10. Chapter 10

The cipher transfer was relatively simple.

Liara's comments about the joining being somewhat intimate meant that Shiala received a fair amount of scowling from a certain Gunnery Chief.

Once Harry had explained the situation between Ashley and Shepard, Shiala had assured the human woman that she had no interest in the Commander and that Liara T'Soni was still young and inexperienced so she didn't have a lot of experience in that side of things.

Liara was a little insulted by that but Shiala was nearly three hundred years old. She had to respect the wisdom of her elders.

Harry had also asked Shiala to give him a copy of the transfer.

Harry's digital brain was able to process the information so that the integration was seamless. The geth quickly used the information to create an update for the machine translators. Now they could all read and understand prothean.

Liara found herself quickly forgiving Shiala as she went into overdrive translating old prothean artefacts.

Harry didn't have the heart to tell her that the geth had already finished translating all recorded finds.

"_Ground team to the conference room. Ground team to the conference room immediately."_

Harry frowned at the urgent sound of the XO's voice. He quickly rolled off the rafter and landed softly in front of Ashley and Shiala.

Shiala had taken to working with Ashley so she could offer tips on how to get and keep her man. Apparently she had married a human but he had passed away a decade ago. She remembered him fondly.

"This cannot be good." Ashley muttered as the group joined Wrex and Garrus at the lift with Tali.

"There wasn't even this much urgency when we rescued the marines on Edolus." Harry agreed.

Thanks to the improved lift they only took a minute to get to the conference room where Kaiden and Liara were already seated with Shepard standing nearby. Admiral Hackett was there via hologram.

"_People, we have a major emergency."_ Hackett addressed them. _"A group of batarian terrorists have taken control of a mining asteroid and diverted it onto a collision course with the local human colony of Terra Nova. We have had no contact with the asteroid except for the initial distress call. _

"_You people have proven yourselves to be the best and I need you to get to the asteroid and attempt to stop its current course. There are millions of innocent civilians on Terra Nova, each and everyone of them is counting on you."_

"Admiral, why not use the fleet? Blow the asteroid into smaller pieces that will burn up in the atmosphere." Kaiden asked.

"This asteroid is the size of a small moon." Shepard explained. "It doesn't matter how small the pieces, it will contaminate the air and blot out all light."

"How are they moving the asteroid?" Harry asked.

"_The asteroid was intended to be used as an orbital port facility. Several large fusion torches were installed to move it into orbit with Terra Nova. The batarians have restarted the torches."_

The Admiral could be seen punching buttons in front of him as the display screen lit up showing the schematics and readouts of Asteroid X57.

"Admiral, according to the geth, even if we kill the torches the asteroid will keep going. There won't be enough time to rotate the asteroid and the torches won't be enough to stop the asteroid once it is caught in Terra Nova's gravitational pull." Harry said.

"_You're positive? My experts were… hopeful."_

"The geth are putting several servers on the problem but several facts are clear. The torches wouldn't be enough, the asteroid can't be turned in time and we are going to need more than just the Normandy to pull this off."

"_Damn."_ Hackett swore. _"Do they have any ideas?"_

"They are working on it but at the moment it might be best to go with Kaiden's plan and blow the asteroid. It will at least give us time to evacuate the planet."

"_I can mobilise the fifth, first and third fleets and be there within two hours. One fleet should be enough to blow the asteroid and all three will be able to handle evacuation."_

"Admiral, I know this is not the ideal solution but hopefully it will be the action of last resort as the geth are still working the problem." Harry assured him.

"_I know, and we absolutely appreciate it. I'll have the fleets moved immediately but we will wait until the last possible moment before putting the plan into action. Hackett out."_

As the Admiral's image disappeared Shepard turned to the group.

"There are approximately fifty workers on the asteroid along with an unknown number of batarian terrorists. We need to get in, find the workers, eliminate the terrorists and shutdown the torches."

"If I might suggest altering the priority slightly." Shiala spoke up. "Whilst saving the workers would be optimal, shutting down the torches is non-negotiable. If possible, send a scout to determine the make up of the current occupants of each torch. If there are no workers present then an orbital strike may be more prudent."

"Harry, could you get in and out without being detected?" Shepard asked the wizard.

Harry examined the data the geth had on the torches and their bases.

"I can do it." Harry said slowly. "We'll need the Stingray to get me between the torches."

"This is strange behaviour for batarians." Garrus said thoughtfully. "There is no profit to be had."

"It is well known that the batarian Hegemony has accused the humans of stealing their territories." Shiala offered. "This could be an act of revenge."

"That was decades ago!" Ashley argued.

"Even humans have long memories." She pointed out. "Although it is the height of hypocrisy on the part of the batarians as they invaded several Council planets and constantly attack Council colonies for slave raids." She said in disgust. "Anyone who steps foot on a batarian world is instantly considered property of the Hegemony."

"We'll discuss the sociological flaws of the batarians later." Shepard interrupted. "As important as it is to know their motivations we still need to stop this asteroid."

"Get me a batarian and I can find out for you." Harry said quietly. "Just like I did on Noveria."

"Do what you can Harry, just don't get caught." Shepard instructed.

* * *

><p>It took thirty minutes to get Harry to each of the torches where he was able to confirm that there were no workers present. Some distance away from each torch they left a Marine sniper team that would pick off any batarian that tried to leave.<p>

Harry encountered one human skulking around the second torch who he quickly stunned and transfigured into a marble before taking him back to the Stingray for the others to interrogate whilst he dealt with the third torch.

The man, Simon Atwell, was the Chief Engineer and was able to give them information on the leader of the terrorists, Balak, and the location of three scientists who would need rescuing.

Harry's ship had arrived by this point and Simon was sent on board to go and retrieve the scientists.

This just left the main facility that housed the workers.

There were no guards outside. There were no sensor stations. Just a bunch of batarians with defence and rocket drones.

Harry and Tali managed to hack the drones into taking out several batarians before they were taken down. Tali then sent in her own drone to harass the batarians whilst the team began their assault.

The team truly began to see the benefits of having a highly skilled asari commando on their side as Shiala literally decimated the terrorists.

No quarter was given as the team killed every batarian they saw until there were only three left.

"Stop or I'll detonate the bomb."

"Cease fire!" Shepard shouted as he saw a batarian holding a dead man's switch.

"So, the infamous Commander Shepard has come to save his precious colony." The batarian snarled.

"Commander, are we really going to let him give his villain speech?" Ashley asked in disgust.

"Arrogant primate!" The batarian snapped angrily. "You think you are entitled to everything! You took our planets, our resources our-

"You took our people!" Ashley shouted.

"Fair game." The batarian shrugged.

"Harry?" Shepard asked.

"The geth have jammed all signals in the building. They are sending their own signal to the bomb so it won't detonate. He's got nothing." Harry shrugged.

"I… I..." Shepard sighed. "This idiot isn't worth my time."

"I will kill all your kind!" The batarian shouted as he raised his weapon.

Harry was quicker as he summoned the weapons to him. He dropped them casually on the ground as he walked towards the now very worried trio of terrorists.

"Tell me, _Balak_, which of your two friends here do you consider the weakest?" Harry asked dangerously as he stood three feet away from them.

"If you are going to kill me then get on with it." Balak snarled.

"Kill you? No, you deserve a fate far worse than death." Harry sneered. "You've actually made me hate you, Balak. Having me hate is a very bad idea. It gives me access to abilities I shouldn't have." Harry's hand shot out. _"CRUCIO!"_ Harry screamed.

Balak fell to the floor screaming in agony.

Harry dropped the spell. "Tell me Balak, which of your two friends is the weakest?"

"I will defile your women!"

"_CRUCIO!"_

"Harry!" Shepard shouted.

"The left one! The left one!" Balak cried as the spell ended.

In one swift movement Harry's sword was out and the head of the batarian on the right fell to the floor… his body following a second later.

Harry turned to the other batarian. "Pay very close attention to me 'Left One'." Harry said with a dangerous calm. "You are to return to the Hegemony. Tell them that they have angered the Emissary and thus, they have angered the geth. Tell them that I will be coming for them with the geth. If they surrender themselves they will live, fight and I will make them suffer before they die."

"The Hegemony will never surrender!" The batarian snarled.

Harry's sword flashed out, this time impaling the batarian through the stomach.

"Now you have no one to deliver your message." Balak said mockingly through pain gritted teeth.

Harry knelt beside the shivering and shaking batarian and gave a humourless smile. "I wasn't looking for a messenger, I was looking for the message.

"Right now, the Hegemony and every batarian on every batarian world is watching us now. They have seen you brought to your knees by a human. They have heard my message and they know I am coming." Harry indicated the security cameras around the room.

"I will destroy the Hegemony if they do not surrender. I will free the slaves, including the batarian ones.

"But most importantly, Balak, you will get to watch the whole thing courtesy of human hospitality." Harry sneered. "I am coming for the Hegemony. Beg for my mercy."

Harry turned and stormed towards the trapped hostages. "He's all yours Commander."

Harry reached the door to the hostages and used a biotic pull to rip it off its hinges.

The hostages had heard and witnessed everything and were a little afraid of this human. They decided to stay at the back of the room as Harry picked up the large, trunk-sized bomb, placed it on one shoulder and marched out.

"Commander?" Kaiden broke the silence as they watched Harry leave.

Shepard shook himself. "Alenko, T'Soni, deal with the hostages. Garrus, Wrex, keep an eye on Balak."

"Should I go after Harry?" Ashley asked.

"Not this time." Shepard said thoughtfully. "I think we should let him cool off."

The asteroid was suddenly rocked by several tremors.

"Joker, report!" Shepard barked.

"_The geth just took out the torches. The rock is still moving but it isn't accelerating anymore, Commander."_

"Understood. Any word on the fleets?"

"_It will be another ninety minutes before they arrive. There will be plenty of time to enact the failsafe plan."_

"Good, keep-"

"_Whoa! Commander, a geth fleet just came out of the mass effect relay. At least I hope it is."_

"Try hailing them."

"_No worries Commander. They've hailed us. They are here to assist in moving the asteroid. They are recommending that we evacuate the asteroid."_

"Bring the Normandy down. We'll have to handle the evacuation ourselves."

"_Copy that, Commander. Normandy out."_

"Ash, Shiala and Tali, help Liara and Kaiden evacuate the colonists to the Normandy. Garrus, contact the Stingray and have it come and pick you Wrex and Balak up until we can hand him over to the fleet."

"Yes Commander." Garrus nodded.

* * *

><p>"Commander. Thank you for your efforts on X57." Hackett said as he boarded the Normandy. "We still have the failsafe plan to deal with if necessary but in the meantime the geth have a most… audacious plan." It was clear that Hackett was still in awe of whatever the geth had suggested.<p>

"Admiral?" Shepard asked curiously.

"The geth… well, they intend to fly the asteroid."

"I thought the torches wouldn't be enough?"

"They intend to land several of their dreadnaughts and use their mass effect fields to lower the mass of the asteroid making it easy to move."

"They can generate a field that big and powerful? I know Harry's ship can generate a field to encompass his ship and the Normandy but this… this is a whole new ball game."

"I spoke to Potter and he says that the geth can combine their fields. My science advisors are screaming at me, telling me that all it will do is cause a massive explosion. But my gut is saying to trust the geth. What do you think, Commander?"

"I think your scientists have overlooked the fact that the geth already know the risks. They are prepared to accept them. They also know that we are prepared to blow up the asteroid and evacuate the planet… this is more than a favour, Admiral. This is a sacrifice." Shepard said seriously.

"The geth would really do this?" Hackett asked, not quite believing it.

Shepard gave a sad smile. "Normally I would say no. But Harry… he adds new variables and considerations to everything."

"Damn." Hackett muttered. "Where is Potter? He contacted me from his ship after he transferred several scientists to the Normandy."

Shepard looked up sharply. "You don't know where his ship is?"

"The relay activated but we couldn't track any ships."

"Shit." Shepard swore. "Geth, can you hear me?"

Shepard's omni-tool lit up.

"_We hear you, Shepard Commander."_ Came the synthetic tones.

"What is Harry doing?"

"_Potter Emissary is ending the threat of the Hegemony."_

"He's attacking Khar'shan? Alone?" Hackett asked.

"_Potter Emissary wishes to avoid war. He intends to attack the Hegemony directly. He will take control of the government before freeing the slaves."_

"He's going to get himself killed! The batarians will send in their soldiers!" Shepard argued.

"_A geth fleet is on standby."_

"What are the statistics of Harry surviving?" He demanded, he could tell the geth were being cagey.

"_Thirty-seven percent."_

"Dammit!"

"_However, the Potter factors allow for a thirty-two percent chance of error in our calculations."_

"Potter factors?" Hackett asked.

"_Williams, Gunnery Chief: 'Harry is one lucky bastard.'"_

Hackett and Shepard were surprised to hear a recording of the Chief's voice.

* * *

><p>The Hegemony was in total panic.<p>

It wasn't the fact that someone had threatened to invade them; that happened often enough. Everyone from the turians to the elcor had threatened.

So they weren't too worried about a bunch of humans flapping their lips at them.

No. It was the fact that the Hegemony had lost control of its communication systems.

Specifically the ones that pumped out propaganda messages to the higher castes and will breaking taunts to the slaves.

Currently the system was replaying the whole event with Balak and the humans.

They couldn't shut it down and the slaves were getting uppity.

The Hegemony was beginning to worry.

"We should activate the slave implants." A rather fat batarian said anxiously. "Incapacitate them now."

"If we do that we could lose a harsh percentage of our current stock." Another argued.

"Better than losing all of it!"

A batarian in uniform came running into the large, luxurious room. "Sir, a strange black ship has been spotted in the skies above the city, heading this way."

"Why hasn't it been shot down?" The fat batarian demanded.

"It eludes our sensors. It-"

***BOOM***

The room was filled with dust and debris as something fell through the ceiling to land on the large ornate table.

As the dust settled they saw what appeared to be a quarian standing on their table in matt black armour.

The helmet retracted to reveal a human.

"I told you I was coming." It said with a Death's Head grin.

* * *

><p>The slave masters were scared stiff as the cries of rejoicing increased. All around them the monitors were showing the strange human land in the palace of the Hegemony.<p>

It cast a singularity so large that any soldier who tried to enter the room to aid the Hegemony was caught in its pull.

The human turned to the camera but the face was obscured somehow. _"I am the Emissary of the Geth. I was born human. _

"_The batarian government has launched a cowardly attack on innocent humans today. For decades they have stolen the loved ones of various races._

"_Today that ends. Today I will free the slaves and see you returned to your families._

"_Every slave is implanted with a control device that can inflict massive amounts of pain and can kill them."_ The human chuckled. _"The Hegemony fears being supplanted so all batarians are required to have them unless they are in the Hegemony. All slave masters are now slaves."_

All around the batarian empire the slave masters fell to the ground in agony.

"_Yes, the tables are turning. By the end of this day, your planets will be patrolled by geth who will ensure your safety and security. I will be reaching out to Council races to seek aid for things like food and medicine._

"_I will see you become better than your former masters."_

The image cut off and the slaves truly began to rejoice.

* * *

><p>"Sir, the whole of Council Space saw that broadcast." A nearby tech informed Hackett and Shepard.<p>

"Are we sure it was Potter?" Hackett demanded.

"It sounded like him. He was the right build, moved like him… and the geth are confirming it as him." Shepard said as his omni-tool lit up.

"That boy has just single-handedly conquered an empire."

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think Harry is a threat. I don't think he has any intention of doing anything other than freeing the slaves." Shepard reasoned.

"It's not his intentions I am worried about. It's the response of the Council." Hackett explained. "If he stays true to his word, and I don't doubt he will, then when we get floods of long lost humans returning to Earth then the Alliance Government will have no choice but to declare him a hero… again.

"I just don't know what the Council will think."

"Sir, I've got Ambassador Udina and the Council asking for Commander Shepard."

"Speak of the devil." Hackett grumbled.

The Commander and Admiral headed out of the CIC and into the conference room.

"Oh, this ought to be interesting. They are calling separately." Hackett mused.

"We could always make Udina wait." Shepard offered.

Hackett punched up the screens and four holograms appeared.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed of the events on Khar'shan but at the moment my Commander and I are a little busy trying to stop a batarian attack from wiping out millions of innocent civilians. We will get back to you as soon as we are done."

The link cut out and Shepard was left staring wide-eyed at his superior.

"Potter and the batarians aren't an imminent threat to the Council. The batarians _are _an imminent threat to humans. That and I want to speak to Potter first."

* * *

><p>People throughout Citadel space were torn between watching the slaves being freed on batarian worlds or watching the geth fly an entire asteroid.<p>

By the time the geth were ready to begin their manoeuvre, night had fallen on the planets largest city and people were out in force as they watched the large glowing blue asteroid fly high above them.

Hackett and Shepard were involved in a conversation with Harry via holograms.

"Harry, what were you thinking?" Shepard demanded.

"_Have you ever been captured by the enemy, Commander? Your files say no. So you wouldn't understand. You would have a moral outrage but no true empathy. The Admiral on the other hand…"_

"You were captured by enemy forces and tortured?" Hackett asked stiffly.

"_Admiral, from the age of one to eleven, I spent my time as a slave. I lived in a tiny cupboard and was beaten for failing at tasks._

"_There was no way I was going sit back and let others suffer that way."_

"Son, I can understand… and agree with what you did." Hackett said. "But you have kicked up a major political shit storm."

"_I can handle that. However, how would you like to put humans in the spotlight as the primary contributors to the galaxy?"_ Harry asked with a smile.

"What did you have in mind?"

"_The geth tell me that they have complete control of the asteroid. That means your fleets are no longer needed at Terra Nova. I have several million slaves of varying species that need to be returned home. You just happen to have several fleets assigned for a mass evacuation… care to do the honours?"_

"You want us to transport all of the slaves back to their home worlds?" Hackett asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_Humanity at its best."_ Harry nodded. _"The Council will be hard pressed to ignore you if you prove to be so pivotal."_

"I will need a few hours at the least to consult with my colleagues, but I can promise you the fifth fleet at least."

"_Great. I will be returning shortly as the geth have things under control and Shepard still has his mission."_

"We don't have any leads yet so we might as well return to the Citadel and give the crew some shore leave." Shepard suggested.

"_I'll need to meet you on the Normandy, I don't want to bring my ship into the Citadel."_

"We'll wait for you to return."

* * *

><p>It took a day and a half for Harry to get back to the Normandy as to save time Harry and the Normandy travelled separately to the Citadel, they met just inside the relay to Widow System in the Serpent Nebula.<p>

"Harry, do you realise how much trouble you have caused?" Shepard asked tiredly as they sat in Shepard's quarters, waiting to dock at the Citadel.

"Let's see, I just over threw a government and took control. Freed several hundred million slaves. Helped save a planet full of people from being squished… how am I doing?" He grinned.

"For the record, Hackett and most of humanity think you are a hero." Shepard sighed. "But they aren't the ones you need to worry about. It's the politicians who will cause you problems."

"The Council races can't do a damned thing without starting a war." Harry said dismissively. "The geth believe in free will. They didn't like the batarian government anymore than I did. Anyone who tries to harm the Free People of Bataria will be dealt with by the geth and myself."

"Harry, you do realise that the batarian home world is called Khar'shan?"

"Not anymore." Harry said proudly. "I renamed it. The Free People of Bataria will be starting a brand new culture and it begins with a new name for their home world."

"You haven't even been in this time period for a month." Shepard sighed.

* * *

><p>"Harry Potter, you are under arrest for contraventions of the Citadel Treaties." Sparatus said with glee as Harry and the team approached the petitioner's platform.<p>

Surrounding the team were several heavily armed men and women of varying species.

Based on the fact that none of them wore a uniform, just armour, and that none were human, Harry deduced that they were spectres.

"Based on what evidence?" Harry asked calmly.

The rest of the team had pulled their weapons in his defence.

"You violated various treaties the Citadel had with the batarian Hegemony." Tevos said sadly.

"No, I didn't."

"We saw you attack the Hegemony!" Sparatus snapped.

"Show me the proof."

The holographic display lit up to show the attacker addressing the batarians. _"I am the Emissary of the Geth."_

"Try as you might, you can't deny that is you." Sparatus smirked.

"I can't see _my_ face up there. I didn't hear _my_ name mentioned." Harry said a little snarkily. "All I heard was someone claiming to be an Emissary of the Geth."

"You came to this very room using that title. Do you deny it?" Valern asked curiously.

"No. Are you saying that I _am_ this 'Emissary of the Geth'?" Harry asked calmly.

"Of course! You told us yourself!" Sparatus said as he got more frustrated. "You claimed to be the Emissary of the Geth and you are clearly the Emissary of the Geth on that video."

Harry allowed himself to smile. "In that case, you have no jurisdiction."

"You invaded the batarian home world! The Council Treaties-"

"Only apply to member races of the Council." Harry interrupted the irate turian. "Neither the geth nor the batarians are members of the Council or of the Citadel. As such, they are not bound by your treaties. Anything that occurs between them is a private matter and the Council would do well to remember such unless they wish to be seen as warmongering."

Tevos was beginning to wish that she hadn't agreed to make this a public hearing. The evidence had seemed so sound at first and Sparatus was just foaming at the mouth for the opportunity to deal with the upstart human.

"You are human. You fall under the domain of humans. Therefore you are subject to our laws." Sparatus smirked.

"Actually, Emissary Potter is mostly geth." Shepard interrupted. "I've seen most of his medical files and my ship's doctor insists that in the event of the Emissary needing medical attention, he is to be returned to the geth."

"Really?" Sparatus said with a sinister smile. "Then we will just have to prove that for ourselves. Spectres, take Potter into custody. We'll have our scientists examine him."

The spectres managed one step before Harry's hand shot straight up and every occupant in the Council Chambers was placed in a stasis field. From Sparatus to Tali, no one was free except for Harry.

Harry had knowledge of all spells and magical techniques documented thanks to the geth and the last wizards who had wanted to preserve as much of their culture as possible and created websites of 'fictional' spells. Only a true wizard would be able to use them.

The rest of humanity would assume they were insane biotics.

Harry knew the spell that Voldemort used to fly.

He employed it himself as he slowly rose off the petitioner's platform and over to float less than a metre from Sparatus.

"You want proof that I am geth?" Harry scowled. "I could kill you. No one here can stop me. I could take your head and carry it around as a trophy.

"But that wouldn't prove I am geth.

"No… I'm not going to kill you physically." Harry gave a dark smile. "I'm going to kill you digitally."

Harry floated back to the platform.

"I never gave my name back on Bataria. I wanted anonymity. I wanted to be able walk through the universe without being mobbed. But now you have removed that option. You had these proceedings broadcast because of your stupid arrogance!" Harry spat. "Well know this: I am Harry James Potter, Emissary of the geth and of the batarian people. I am considered the sovereign ruler of my people.

"An attack on me is an act of war… and when you consider I hold the loyalty of two species… that could be a very dangerous prospect."

Harry removed the stasis field from the Councillors but left everyone else trapped.

"Now then, the Council is currently without a quorum." Harry informed them calmly. "I suggest you find a turian to replace your old friend Sparrow. Perhaps you will have remembered by then that the Citadel is supposed to be the centre of _civilised_ space."

Harry turned to the still immobile team. "I'll be out exploring the Citadel. You can still contact me when you're ready."

He dropped the field from everyone else and vanished.

The Council chambers erupted in chaos.

* * *

><p>Harry reappeared in front of the embassy reception.<p>

"Goddess! How did you do that?" The receptionist said in shock. "You were just in the Council Chambers!" She indicated the various information screens around the Presidium that were showing the current events in the Chambers.

"Apparition." Harry smiled. "By the way, I'm Harry Potter." He held out his hand.

The asari smiled and took his hand. "Saphyria. I get to meet a lot of ambassadors and diplomats but I rarely get to meet the actual rulers. I have _never_ met a ruler of two species before. I can say with certainty that none of them have stopped by just to chat."

"So how are you? It's been, what, a week? Managed to find some hair to explore?" Harry asked as he casually conjured a chair in front of her desk.

"How did you do that?" She asked in awe.

"Hey now! I asked first." Harry said with a playful pout.

"Alright, I'll answer first. Yes it has been about a week. I was curious after you left, not to mention a little wary of humans, so I went and spoke to my sister, Nelyna, she works as an acolyte for the Consort. She also works closely with many females of other races including humans. A few of the female humans were also outraged about what had happened. The Consort has offered me her protection."

"Good." Harry nodded firmly. "It would be so easy to judge a race by their politicians." He indicated the chaos still being shown on the screens. "Fortunately I have met a fair few asari who are good people."

"You should go and visit the Consort. You won't be able to get an appointment for months but just tell my sister I sent you and how I know you and she can introduce you to much better examples of various species than what I deal with. Oh goddess!" She gasped as she realised what she had just said in the middle of the Citadel Embassies. She looked around worriedly. "Did anyone hear me say that?"

"No, but don't worry, I put up a few charms and protections. When I sat down so we could enjoy some privacy. People can see us, but as far as they are concerned we are discussing something boring… like forms and red tape." Harry gave a shudder.

"Well, I answered your question, how about you answer mine? How did you make that chair and what are charms?" She smiled, eager to learn.

"Have you ever heard of magic?" Harry asked as he say back.

"Not in any detail." She frowned. "I heard that back when biotics were still new to humans they called it magic."

"That is true. But, biotics are simply a very primitive form of magic."

Harry was pleased when Saphyria didn't immediately scoff but maintained her look of curiosity.

"A biotic has the ability to manipulate the mass of an object and the environment. They can levitate, push and pull things. They can even use them to create a gravitational event known as a 'singularity'.

"A person capable of magic can use the same power source to do the same things but instead of manipulating the mass of an object, they can manipulate reality. It is what allows a person like myself to conjure a chair from nothing."

"But, shouldn't there be more magicals then?" She asked.

"There used to be. But for some reason the magicals lost the ability to use magic. They all became biotics."

"How are you able to do it then?"

Harry smiled sadly. "I was born more than two hundred years ago, but I am only twenty years old. An accident occurred and I was thrown forward two hundred years to land on the planet Rannoch. That is why I can use magic still."

"Rannoch?" Saphyria lit up at the name of the planet. "My mother lived there. She was studying the quarian culture… she died during the geth uprising." She said sadly.

"What was her name?" Harry asked softly.

"Falinya, she loved the quarians."

"_Come on Kater, dance with me!"_

"_Ok Aunty Fali."_

Saphyria gasped as her screen lit up and displayed a movie of her mother dancing with a bluish-purple little boy with short dark hair and three fingers.

"The geth remember everything. They preserve the memories of the Creators, hoping that one day they will return. They especially remember the people who cared for them during the uprising." Harry said quietly. "They remember that your mother and the family that she stayed with tried to hide the family geth from the soldiers. She gave her life in the hopes of saving the geth."

Saphyria was openly crying.

"Here, a full copy of all of the geth's memories of your mother and her time on Rannoch." Harry said as he handed over an OSD.

Saphyria painfully tore her eyes away from the images to the OSD in Harry's hand.

She shut down her computer and snatched the OSD before rounding the table. She grabbed Harry by the hand and dragged him out of his chair.

"We need to show my sister!" She said as she dragged Harry away from the embassies and over the pristine white bridge that spanned the lake.

Short of ripping Saphyria's arm off, Harry had little choice but to follow her.

It wasn't a long trip but the sight of a human being bodily dragged by a very determined asari amused many of the Presidium residents.

They eventually arrived at the entrance of the Consorts domain. There was an asari manning the reception desk.

"Nelyna, you need to get someone to cover for you."

"Saphyria, what is wrong?" She asked as she saw her sister's tear-streaked face. She saw Harry and scowled. "Is this one of those human males who has been harassing you?"

"No, this is Harry. He is the one who told me about them. He is the Emissary of the Geth." She added with a whisper. "He gave me something you need to see."

Nelyna turned to another nearby acolyte and she was quickly relieved.

She led them to a nearby empty room, which was decorated as a small lounge.

"Ok now what is so important that you dragged me from duties… and clearly abandoned yours?"

"Harry, can you do that thing you did again?" Saphyria asked as she indicated the display on the wall.

Just like her sister, Nelyna was entranced by the scenes of her mother playing with a young quarian.

"I promise you that as soon as the quarians have agreed to peace with the geth and are back on Rannoch, the geth themselves will take you to Rannoch. They have a very high opinion of people like your mother." Harry told them quietly.

Nelyna scowled. "The quarians will never agree to peace. They are too stupid. They think they are entitled to own a sentient life form."

"Nelyna." Saphyria scolded softly.

"It's true, have you seen the way they treat Avina? It may only be a VI but there is no reason to be rude… they would never treat an air-car or spaceship like that." Nelyna said angrily.

"In the event that the quarian government refuses to listen to reason I will start reaching out to quarians on their pilgrimage." Harry shrugged. "Within the next year or so I intend to have quarians living on Rannoch without their suits."

"You can fix their immune systems?" Saphyria asked.

"Yep. The geth made these nanites that are in my blood. They just reprogrammed them to maintain a quarian's immune system." Harry grinned.

"You do realise the inherent problem with that plan, don't you." Nelyna said with a sad look. "The quarian's will not trust anything made by the geth… especially nanites. They will accuse you of trying to poison them."

"I'm hoping that once they see a few of their fellow quarians walking around they will put aside their fears."

"Well… he did just liberate the slaves of the batarians." Saphyria pointed out to her sister.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Nelyna called out.

Another acolyte opened the door. A human female with brown hair. "Sha'ira asked to speak with your guest when you are done, Nelyna."

"He doesn't have an appointment." Nelyna said.

"She knows, but she was quite persistent, she- she was practically begging." The girl said a little worriedly.

"Oh goddess, that can't be good." Nelyna sighed. "It would probably be best if we took you to see her now."

"Can I leave Harry with you? I should really return to my desk." Saphyria said.

"If Sha'ira is that desperate to talk with him then she probably won't mind me accompanying him out if he wants."

Having said goodbye to Harry and giving him a heartfelt, thankful hug, Saphyria headed back to the embassies whilst Nelyna led Harry upstairs.

In a well-appointed room stood an asari in a long, simple, flowing dress, just like the acolytes.

"Emissary, thank you for meeting with me." She said sincerely and with a hint of relief. "Nelyna, I will send for you when we are finished."

"Yes My Lady." She bowed before backing out and closing the door.

"You're Sha'ira?" Harry asked politely.

"Yes, I am also known as the Consort." She smiled as she indicated for them to sit.

Harry had downloaded all the information on the Consort and knew that she was revered on the Citadel. She had friends and contacts amongst the highest players in the galaxy.

"I assume you want to find out what sort of person I am, how I might influence things?" Harry asked seriously.

Sha'ira laughed musically. "Goddess! Anyone with an eye can see that you will be a force for change. Wherever you go you will bring chaos in the short term… but in the long term… you are a champion. Justice will be delivered where your feet land. Peace will follow your passing."

"Which means I don't get any rest for myself though." Harry sighed.

"Do not mistake 'rest' and 'peace' for happiness." She warned lightly. "You would not appreciate the peaceful tranquillity of living out the decades of your life on sandy beaches. Your spirit would become restless. Your happiness is in what you can achieve. You will achieve much, and I doubt you will do it alone. You will have your friends, your comrades and eventually, you may even have a mate.

"A spirit such as yours may have more than one mate."

Harry was decidedly uncomfortable discussing his love life.

But Sha'ira was not renowned and respected just for her looks. She quickly changed the subject.

"No, I could tell what sort of a man you were just from your actions earlier with the Council. Although you were somewhat… aggressive, you did not overstep your bounds as a sovereign of two states."

"I'm not really the sovereign." Harry said dismissively. "I don't have any power, I am just acting as the face of the new batarian government and the geth… who actually _are_ the new batarian government." He added as something of an after thought.

"The power you hold over the two nations is not political from your point of view, but for the races of Citadel Space, you are… an emperor." She searched for the appropriate term. "You have no need nor desire to run a government so you appoint one. But they must come to you for advice."

"I hope it won't be a problem." Harry scowled. "I have an appointment with a certain old machine and my sword."

"Old machine?" Sha'ira asked.

"The ship that Saren is using is an ancient artificial intelligence intent on wiping out all organics. The geth call it an old machine. Or a Reaper. It calls itself Nazara, Saren calls it Sovereign." Harry explained.

"Which is what makes your mission so important." She nodded. "I have… 'seen' that you will be pivotal in aiding Commander Shepard in defeating the on coming storm. You will be more than just a member of his team. You will bring together various races… I cannot see for certain but I have faith you will achieve peace between the geth and the quarians… but the path to that peace may be long and bloody."

"When you say 'see', what do you mean?"

"You are strange, Emissary. Normally I would offer my clients words of wisdom, occasionally wrapped in cryptic phrases. But with you… I feel no need." She frowned. "I have been gifted with a form of foresight. It can be fleeting and at times, far too vague. But it is how I am so successful in my role. It is not because of my beauty and skilful touch, but for my words."

"You're a seer." Harry said as he sat up excitedly. "You have an actual magical gift! This is brilliant!"

Sha'ira nodded. "Yes, I have searched the cultures and histories of many races, but it was humans who had the most information on the gift of foresight."

"So… have you seen me in the future? You haven't been giving any prophecies, have you?" He asked worriedly.

"I do not believe I have made any prophetic declarations… but I have seen you. I saw that we would meet today. I can see a future where the quarians and geth live in harmony… but not a timeframe, it could be centuries.

"But meeting you today, in this room has given me a hint of how I can help you. Or… to be more precise, how you can help me and secure yourself a valuable ally."

"I _really_ hope you aren't going to be cryptic with me." Harry said dryly.

She laughed again. "That would only annoy you. I know that much.

"I have a problem with a turian, he was a regular client but I allowed him to get too close, he wanted more and I had to push him away." She said sadly. "He is a good man but in his pain he has lashed out and is making enemies and mistakes.

"I would ask you to go to him. Reason with him. Based on your success or failure you should know whether he will be what you need."

"Cryptic." Harry said bluntly.

She smiled sadly. "It is all I know. Images and feelings. Interpreting them is very troublesome."

"I'll let you know how it goes." Harry said as he stood up. "I don't suppose you know where I can find him?"

"He spends his time drinking in Chora's Den. It is contributing to his bad decisions."

"See you in a bit then."

"Just speak to one of the girls and they will show you up when you return."

Harry made it downstairs only to find three irate females arguing with several of the acolytes.

"Look, we just want to make sure he is ok!" The human reasoned.

"He is with the Consort. He couldn't be safer!"

"Not for long he won't be." The quarian growled. "Doesn't he have any shame? Playing about with over priced-"

"I'd advise you not to finish that sentence." Nelyna growled. "You insult the Consort and your friend."

"Please, he is important to us. Just sen- Ma- Harry, there you are." The asari said in relief.

"Ash, Tali, Shiala, what brings you three to this neck of the woods?" Harry grinned.

"You ya big idiot. You know my orders. I'm the one who gets in trouble if you are out of my sight." Ashley grumbled.

"I too felt a… need to check on you." Shiala said pointedly and with something of a pained look.

"I just want to know what you were doing with that… _consort._" Tali said dangerously. "Why would you even come to this place?" She demanded.

"Nelyna's sister wanted me to meet her. The Consort heard I was here and asked to see me. She had a favour to ask." Harry shrugged.

"So you just talked?"

"Of course. What else would I do?" Harry asked not understanding Tali's anger.

"What was the favour?" Ash asked, trying to distract the pair.

"She just wants me to talk to a specific turian in Chora's Den."

"Oh, that would be wonderful, Harry." Nelyna said in relief. "Things have been getting a little bit stressful with all the false rumours running around."

"Sha'ira seemed to think I could deal with this so why not."

"Do we need to warn C-Sec about an upcoming blood bath?" Ashley grimaced.

"_I_ am not the one who got into a fire fight down there."

"No, you were the one who painted the ceiling with a turian and two salarians." She countered.

Harry struggled for a counter argument before he pointed wildly at Tali. "She shot me!"

"Leave me out of this." Tali said. "I'm no fool. I saw you had armour which is why I aimed for your chest and not your unprotected head."

"Then your aim sucks." Ash grinned.

"Children, please." Shiala spoke up with a small smile. "Nelyna has her duties and Harry has his task. Let us be about our day."

"Fine… but watch the 'children' stuff." Harry grumbled. "You're still just a maiden."

"You will be back, won't you Harry?" Nelyna asked hopefully.

"Probably later today… barring gunfights, politicians and indigestion."

"Don't your nanites prevent that?" Ashley asked.

"I was talking about Tali."

"Bosh'tet."


	11. Chapter 11

The trip down to Chora's Den in the Wards was uneventful. Much to Ashley's relief. She did not want to suffer another round of Udina's bellyaching.

The hiccup occurred as they stepped foot over the threshold of the establishment.

"Oof! Harry, what's the deal?" Ashley snapped as she walked into a frozen Harry.

Shiala had taken the lead and turned to see what the problem was.

Harry was gazing intently at the floor. "Do those women _know_ they are naked?" He hissed.

"They _are_ strippers." Tali said with a hint disgust.

"Harry, are you a virgin?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"Of course I am!" Harry snapped; his eyes still routed to the floor. "I've been fighting for my life since before puberty… I've had two girlfriends and very little privacy. When exactly was I supposed to do anything more than hold a girl's hand?"

"Harry, these naked girls chose their profession." Shiala said as she stepped forward and raised his head to look into his eyes. "They are all beautiful and talented. They could easily work in another profession. They _want_ to be looked at and admired. Don't insult them by not looking." She said softly.

"None of them are slaves?"

"Slavery is forbidden here. Take a look at the bartender. She's a beautiful human female, but she is dressed quite conservatively, especially for an establishment like this."

"Relax Harry, we won't rag on you if your eyes drift." Ashley grinned as she put an arm round his shoulder.

Harry looked at her with a wry smile. "How many times has Shepard been here?"

The grin was replaced with a scowl and she gave him a light shove. "Get on with your mission."

Harry chuckled. He could just focus on his mission and try not to get distracted by the various blue and pink flesh.

"The turian is over there." He indicated an older well-dressed turian drinking alone. "You three wait out of earshot so we can speak privately."

"Fine, but we're staying within eyesight."

Harry left the women and calmly walked over to the turian and sat down without invitation.

"When a man is drinking alone it is usually a sign that he wishes to _remain_ alone." The turian scowled. "Regardless of how important you think you are, _Emissary_."

Harry just rolled his eyes. "Just call me Harry, General Septimus. I came here because you are making some huge mistakes."

"They are mine to make and no one else's to judge." He said dismissively.

"They are when they hurt others."

"Hmph. Sha'ira sent you, didn't she?" He grumbled.

"Yep. You've been spreading lies about her and others."

"She lied to me for far longer!" Septimus hissed.

"First of all, I've met the lady in question. She would never lie about something as important as what you believe she lied about."

"I have had far too many drinks to speak in circles and riddles. Speak plainly boy."

Harry resisted the urge to scowl at being called 'boy'. He really hoped Sha'ira was right about this guy.

That said, the geth provided him with a suggestion. He waved his hand twice casting a sobering charm at Septimus and transfiguring the drink into water.

"What did you do?" Septimus demanded as his full faculties returned.

"Just a little bit of my magic so we can talk civilly. If you want I will pay for all your remaining drinks after I leave."

"You have a lot of nerve." Septimus scowled.

"I've read your files, General. I know that you were a great man. You've led your men to countless victories. Victories that were won nobly. Not disgusting acts like Shanxi."

"Shanxi… what a mess." Septimus shook his head. "And the Hierarchy has the gall to wonder why the rest of the galaxy thinks we are nothing but bloodthirsty creatures worse than the krogans."

"I'm beginning to think Sha'ira was right about you." Harry allowed himself a smile. "You might be the sort of person I need as an ally."

"I don't think I can be an ally to any friend of that… woman." Septimus grimaced.

"General… Septimus, you went to that woman knowing who she was and what she had dedicated her life to. I don't know how long she has lived but I know she is respected and loved by _all_ races. Just like you could never abandon your men and your duty to them, she could never abandon her clients, her calling.

"Should you really ask her to?"

"I loved… love her so much." Septimus admitted mournfully. "It just hurts. A turian does not take rejection well."

"Neither do humans." Harry admitted. "But turians are better than this. Drinking away your sorrows and spreading lies… that's what a human does." He pointed to a man in a C-Sec uniform in the corner who was passed out and surrounded by glasses.

"Spirits… is _that_ what I have become?" Septimus shuddered.

"Like I said, Sha'ira is a lot like yourself. Dedicated to her cause. She may never be able to give herself solely to you, but maybe… if you can accept her and all that she does, you could become to her what she is to others."

Septimus looked at him with an amused smirk. "A consort?"

"A friend, a confident, a comforter, an advisor… the person who you go to when times are tough or you just need someone, a friend or lover. A doctor can't treat themselves after all." Harry said passionately.

"And Sha'ira is certainly worth it and has definitely earned it." Septimus nodded. "Tell me Emissary, how did such a young human become so wise?"

Harry winced. "I wouldn't call it 'wisdom', just frustration with seeing the world tear itself apart due to stupidity. I have nightmares of the things I've seen, done and had done to me. I just want to make sure no one else will suffer."

"Then you should see Sha'ira more often." Septimus said firmly. "She is gifted and has helped me with my own nightmares."

He reached into his jacket and pulled out an OSD. "I realise that you have already done so much for myself and Sha'ira, but would you do one last favour for me? In the embassies is an Elcor named Xeltan. He is the other victim of my lies. Could you take him this? It will prove that Sha'ira had nothing to do with the information released about him."

"Sure. I'll have to sneak past Udina's office… but I can manage that."

Septimus laughed. "We have all witnessed the arrogance of the human ambassador." He indicated the screens that showed news replays of the earlier events with the Council. "Humanity is lucky that it has you and Commander Shepard there to show the honour of humanity."

"Technically I represent the geth and batarians." Harry corrected.

"But you look human. People will judge first on that."

"Thank you very much Udina." Harry said sarcastically.

"If you will excuse me, Emissary, I must deliver my apologies to the Consort." Septimus said as he stood and straightened his jacket.

Harry stood respectfully as the turian left.

Harry stretched his neck before he noticed the human female tending the bar.

His curious nature kicked in again so he approached her.

"What can I get you?" She asked with a somewhat strained smile.

"I was wondering what made you choose to work here as a bartender?" Harry asked with a friendly smile. "This is the Wards so I can't imagine the pay would be all that good and I doubt you make anywhere near as much as the… dancers." Harry gulped as an asari on the platform above the bar moved over and started gyrating provocatively at him.

"Is it the atmosphere? Do you have-"

"Look, did my sister send you?" She asked irritably.

"Who?"

"Just tell her to butt out. Now if you don't mind I have patrons to serve."

Harry was a little shocked at that. He figured that maybe her family didn't approve of her choices and decided to leave it.

"What was that about?" Ashley asked as they met at the door.

"I was just curious about her choice of career." Harry shrugged. "She seemed to think her sister sent me."

"You can be pretty nosy." She grinned.

"Are we done with the 'consort'?" Tali asked, she sounded snippy.

"No, I need to deliver something to an Elcor at the embassy and then see Sha'ira. Then we should be done."

Harry was sure he heard her growl.

"Come on. Let's go." Ashley said.

As they were exiting the room a turian tried to shoulder check Harry.

Unfortunately for the turian, Harry came equipped with three bodyguards and an enhanced skeleton that would take a meteor to dent.

Shiala had the turian pinned to the wall of the bar with her biotics as the music stopped and everyone started to pay attention to them.

"Mind yourself turian." Shiala growled.

The turian was trying to say something but Shiala just threw him to the ground angrily before storming out.

Ashley nudged a stunned Harry and Tali out the door. Tali was holding her shotgun whilst Ash had palmed her pistol.

"You didn't have to be that rough." Harry said mildly as they approached the rapid transport terminal.

"An example needs to be set when you travel to these sorts of places, Harry." Shiala lectured. "You cannot show weakness. It is my duty to ensure that assassins fail to get within arms reach of you and he was purposefully aiming for you." She scowled. "If Ashley and Tali had the necessary bodyguard training then I would have captured him and interrogated him to determine his intentions. Instead I was forced to expedite your exit."

Considering her experience, Harry wasn't going to argue.

* * *

><p>Having only seen the Wards as a passing blur before being shot by a paranoid quarian, Harry decided to take the long route to the elevator that would take them to the Presidium instead of using the Rapid Transit System to call for an air car.<p>

There were a lot more aliens around. Or more specifically, more variety. The Presidium was mainly made up of humans, turians, salarians and asari.

In the Wards there were drell, krogan, hanar, elcor, volus, and Keepers in abundance.

There was quite a gathering of humans as well. All were holding placards and shouting something about 'Terra Firma'.

"Emissary!" Harry raised an eyebrow as a man of Hispanic descent approached him with a look of surprise. "Can we count on your support? Having an army of geth protecting us would keep the Council from trying to interfere with humanity's business."

Harry looked at him dumbly. "What?"

"We are a political group who is dedicated to ensuring that humanity retains its roots." The man explained. "Shanxi and the First Contact War have shown us that all these _aliens_ will try and control us and make us conform to their ways.

"Terra Firma works to make sure that they stay away and that Earth stays human." He said with conviction.

"Ok…" Harry said slowly. "Then why are you here? If you don't want _aliens_ influencing humans why don't you just work on being elected back on Earth. Then you can withdraw from the Council and stay on Earth. The _aliens_ won't interfere if you all stay on Earth." He said, spitting the word 'aliens' like the man did.

Shiala was watching with a bemused look whilst Ashley and Tali stood stiffly.

"I'm here because I'm running for one of the Spacer's Seats in the parliament. A requirement is that the candidate has to spend six months a year in space."

"Which would be counter-productive to your cause. If you want people to stay on Earth and away from _aliens_ then you should probably lead by example." Harry said seeming confused.

His three friends had covertly palmed their weapons as they were drawing a large crowd.

"We don't want to stay on Earth, we just don't want aliens on Earth, or doing… things with humans." He said in disgust.

"Wait… that won't work." Harry said with a nearly sincere frown.

Ashley was considering calling the Commander for back up.

"You can't leave Earth _and_ avoid aliens. They control most of known space. You won't be able to use the Mass Effect Relays without encountering them."

"They'll just have to learn to stay out of our way then." The man said firmly.

"And if they don't?" Harry asked. "If they decide that they like the colonies they have there? If they decide that using the Arcturus Relay is too valuable?

"After all, they have been using it for centuries, humanity hasn't even _known_ how to use relays for half a century.

"So what will you do then?" Harry asked a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"We'll… defend ourselves." The man said nervously. "We have to stand up for ourselves."

"Do _they_ have the right to stand up for themselves?" Harry asked pointedly. "I can guarantee that if you threaten the Council races as a whole then the First Contact War will look like a couple of toddlers arguing over a toy."

The man steeled himself and glared back at Harry. "We'll do what we have to. For the survival of our species. For our way of life."

"Your way of life?" Harry said loudly with a bemused smile. He now had the attention of _everyone_ in the area. "So you want to go back to your way of life as it was before the turians attacked, right?"

"That's right." The man sneered. "Humanity was reaching new heights and those featherless chickens just came in and attacked us!"

"In that case, are you going to stop using that omni-tool you are wearing?" Harry asked. "Made by salarians, I believe. Merlin knows where that mass effect drive you used to arrive here came from. You are standing on the most advanced space station in known space. You had better not be coming back here again.

"And let's not get started on the Charon Relay. Are you going to give all that up, _Charles_?"

The man, Charles, just glared at him.

"Listen very carefully you stupid bunch of bigots." Harry said loudly as he addressed the crowd. "I like aliens. I think they are amazing and some of the best people I know. If you even _think_ about hurting my alien friends… I will come down on you like dragons from the sky. The geth… they won't be far behind.

"Now get your disgusting selves out of here and _don't _let me find you causing trouble again."

It wasn't so much Harry's words that got them moving… it was more the vivid blue glow surrounding him and the oppressive feeling in the air from his magic flaring.

"Easy Harry." Ashley said soothingly. "Reel it back in."

Shiala moved in front of Harry and looked him in the eyes as she rubbed his temples. She gently let her mind flutter over his in a relaxing manner, not entering, just… massaging.

"Are you ok?"

The group turned to see a young Asian woman standing there in a long dress and short jacket. The dress was one of the common styles that had panels cut into it that showed bare skin. Nothing scandalous, just similar to the crop tops and low riders of the twentieth century.

"Yeah… just hate to deal with bigots." Harry sighed.

"Listen, I know you just suffered with all that, but do you think you could answer a few questions for me? I'm Emily Wong, a reporter."

Harry was instantly on edge. "A reporter?"

"Yeah, I wasn't following you. I was actually watching the demonstrators." She assured him. "I was just hoping you could give me a few facts that I can hand in to my editors."

"Like what?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well… how long do you think it will be before all the slaves are returned to their homes and families?" She asked as she activated her omni-tool.

Harry gave a low whistle. "That's a toughie." He said, completely forgetting his discomfort around reporters. "We have to figure out where everyone needs to go. Then we need to see if there is anyone left for them.

"The geth are working out the details and the Alliance Navy has offered to run the ferry service for the most part."

"So… years?" She asked.

"Maybe. It could be less if we can get regular transport routes set up. Then the people can make their own way if they want to."

"Great." Emily said, happy with what she got. "Do you know how many slaves there are?"

"Very nearly a billion." Harry said in disgust. "Believe it or not, less than a third were non-batarians."

"Do you have a list of figures I could publish? Hard, cold figures tend to drive home the point." She explained.

Harry stared at her active omni-tool.

"That message is from me." He told her as it beeped.

"Oh… wow… this is both great and extremely depressing." She said as she saw the tallies. The message also contained the numbers of each species.

"Anything else?" He asked curiously.

"Not at the minute. You clearly have my contact details, so the only thing that might be useful is any data on the asteroid the geth moved over Terra Nova. How they did it, how large the rock was, how fast it moved, how many ships they used… that sort of thing."

"I think we can whip up a file for you." Harry gave her a small smile. He liked her a lot better than Rita.

"That's it?" Came a condescending female voice.

The group saw they were being approached by a woman of Arabic descent in a high collar dress with a camera drone floating behind her.

"Stand aside Wang." "Wong." "Let a professional work." She smirked.

"A professional? So… you're a prostitute?" Harry asked curiously.

The woman flushed slightly. "Harry Potter, how do you defend your action earlier today when you attacked the Council?"

"Who are you?" Harry asked, already disgusted by this… thing.

"Everyone knows me. Khalisah al-Jilani, Westerlund News."

"Right… well, I was talking to my new friend, Emily _Wong_. It was a private conversation between friends. Please leave and stop eavesdropping. It's rude." He glared at her.

"Just a few questions, Mr. Potter."

"Would you just… wait… is this going out live?" Harry frowned as he eyed the drone.

"Live and across Citadel Space." She said smugly.

A slow, evil smile spread across Harry's lips. "Fuck. Shit. Penis. Vagina. Erm… Azure. Ass."

Khalisah frantically began trying to shut down her drone.

"Shit! Shut down! Shut down you fucking piece of crap!" She ranted as she desperately tapped away at her omni-tool.

"Come Emily, walk us to the elevator, we'll talk some more." Harry said as he grinned.

"What was that about?" Ashley asked as she saw Emily and Shiala giggling. Tali was just as confused as her.

"The Emissary has just cost Westerlund News thousands… possibly millions of dollars." Emily giggled almost hysterically.

"Call me Harry." The Potty-Mouthed Potter insisted. "Little known fact about broadcast services: You have to apply for one for nearly every colony or planet. Each one has its own regulations and fines. Nearly _all_ of them apply fines if you have swearing.

"The Elcor are especially harsh whilst the Volus and Krogan don't care… mainly because the volus swear all the time and the Krogan don't watch these things. So, when Miss al-Jilani gets called in by her bosses… it _won't_ be pretty."

"What if they try to fine you?" Tali asked.

"For what?" Emily grinned. "Swearing in public? That isn't a crime on the Citadel. Khalisah is the one who started filming without permission and without informing Harry that he was live and that he couldn't swear."

"Wow… you may have taken down an entire news station with, what? Six words?" Ashley said, clearly impressed.

* * *

><p>Getting in to see Xeltan at the embassy was easy enough. He was very relieved to hear that Sha'ira hadn't betrayed him. Harry had taken the opportunity to find out elcor and volus opinions on humans and other species.<p>

He almost regretted it when the volus ambassador began to rant about nearly everything.

Harry had been worried that Shiala was about to start yelling at the small alien but the Elcor ambassador stepped in with his own rebuke for his colleague.

Getting out of the embassies was the problem.

"Potter! Get in here now!"

"I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" Harry asked Udina dangerously.

Shiala's hands were glowing with repressed biotic energy.

Anderson's head poked out next to Udina. "Harry? Good, can you come in, I've got Hackett on the vid-com. We're neck deep in former slaves and we need your input."

"He has no place in _those_ discussions." Udina argued.

"Ambassador, this is a military matter between the Navy, the geth and the Free People of Bataria." Anderson retorted before physically pulling the Ambassador away from the door. Harry cast a few spells at him and he was suddenly pinned to the wall.

Inside Shepard was there along with the aforementioned Admiral on screen.

"_Emissary, good to see you again."_ Hackett greeted him.

"You too Admiral. Is there a problem with the… erm… oh, 'repatriation' of the former slaves?" He said as looked for the appropriate terms.

"_Unfortunately there is." _Hackett nodded. _"Whilst all the races are ecstatic at having their loved ones returned, certain races like the quarians are unable to take them back at the moment. They simply don't have the resources. There is also a hint that the former slaves will not be treated well having been in geth custody."_

"Stupid idiots."

"Bosh'tets!"

They all turned in surprise to the pissed quarian.

"What? They are! Those slaves are our families! I still have trouble trusting the geth but I know they wouldn't have done anything to them."

"That doesn't quite make sense." Harry muttered about the young quarian's logic before turning back to Hackett. "Admiral, there are several planets that are in geth territory that you can put the refugees for now. The geth can see to handling transport of food from various batarian settlements but if you could send a ship of humans or something… I don't think the refugees will cope too well with silent robots all over the place.

"It creeped me out." He admitted.

"Rannoch."

They once again turned to Tali.

"Put the quarians on Rannoch. It will teach the bosh'tets on the Admiralty Board a lesson about abandoning their people."

"We could, but they would be living in fear of the geth still." Shepard pointed out.

"Don't give them a choice."

"Tali, they've just spent how many years as slaves? You want to put them through that again?"

"You won't be treating them as slaves, but their options at the minute are exile or… a geth controlled planet. Why not make it Rannoch?" She argued.

"The geth really wanted you to be the first quarian to breathe the air of Rannoch." Harry sighed.

"Why me?"

"I don't know… they're in my head and they can still be a mystery to me." Harry shrugged.

"Well, I did breathe the air… it was just filtered." Tali said assertively.

"Admiral, the cities and buildings of Rannoch are fully operational. They have power and water but no food. The geth will be waiting for you in orbit. Contact them on your approach and they will direct you to landing zones." Harry told the older man.

"_Thank you Emissary."_ Hackett nodded respectfully. _"Commander, if we get anymore news on Saren I will have it forwarded immediately. Hackett out."_

"Are you going to release the Ambassador now, Harry?" Shepard asked as he attempted to suppress a smirk.

Udina was pinned to the wall and appeared to be screaming bloody murder… except no sound was coming from his mouth.

"I've put a delayed release on it. He'll be free and throwing his tantrum ten minutes after I leave."

"We're on standby for now, people. We have no fresh leads on Saren so Liara is working on the cipher and the beacon's message. Make the most of your time. Ash, you can stand down if you want. I assume Shiala will be staying with Harry so he won't need you tailing him."

"But you are welcome to come." Harry said quickly. "I have to go and see Sha'ira but then I don't have anything planned."

"Perhaps the Commander could use a break, himself." Shiala said pointedly. "Chief Williams can ensure he attempts to unwind." She smiled.

"She's right Commander." Anderson spoke up. "Aside from the stop at Earth, you've been going full tilt since Eden Prime. Take the day relax, let your people handle things. Consider it an order." He said wryly.

"Aye sir." Shepard sighed.

"Come on Skipper, you can buy a girl a drink."

"Chora's Den?"

"Shut up Harry."

* * *

><p>They had arrived at the Consorts rooms just as they were closing up. Sha'ira insisted that Harry, Shiala and Tali join them for dinner.<p>

Tali wouldn't say why she chose to join them, she just insisted on keeping an eye on him.

She seemed decidedly unhappy that he was seated between Sha'ira and Nelyna. Nelyna was being far too affectionate in her opinion.

The meal was light, as was the conversation. The acolytes knew better than to question their Lady's interest in the Emissary.

"You know Tali, there is another benefit to taking those nanites." Harry grinned as he watched the young quarian suck up nutrients through a straw in her suit.

"Because I could have solid food?" She asked irritably.

"Because you could eat all kinds of food. That whole dextrose thing would be cancelled out as the nanites can invert the enzymes. I can eat quarian and turian dishes."

"That's amazing!" A young human, female acolyte gushed. "I've seen some of the dishes that are available for turians and whilst some look like they would churn my stomach, others look and smell delicious."

"But would still churn your stomach, dear." Sha'ira chided teasingly.

"Not if Harry can spread those nanites around." She countered with a pleading pout at Harry.

"I don't see why not." Harry mused. "It would be simple for humans as they are based on my needs. Asari and other races would need tweaking. When the geth have the time they will look into it. At the moment they are working hard to find Saren."

"_Shepard to Harry."_

"I apologise everyone." Harry said as he stood up and moved away from the table. He cast a charm so he wouldn't disturb the diners. "I'm here Commander."

"_Harry, do you want to explain why I just got chewed out by a C-Sec officer who said you were endangering his undercover operation?"_

"Because he's performing illegal activities involving slaves, geth or batarians?" Harry guessed.

"_He says he's working on a gun smuggling operation based out of Chora's Den. He says you were harassing his undercover operative."_

"The only people I spoke to were a turian general and a human bartender… oh, so the bartender is his contact." Harry deduced. "All I did was ask her why she chose to work there. I didn't know she was a C-Sec officer."

"_Just go and see him at C-Sec. See if you can't straighten it out. You don't need more enemies."_

"Fine." Harry sighed. "As soon as I am finished here, I'll head over."

"_Shepard out."_

Harry cancelled his charm and headed back to the table.

"Something urgent?"

Harry looked at Tali slightly perturbed. She sounded almost desperate… she looked incredibly embarrassed. Shiala, Sha'ira and the acolytes were all grinning evilly or smugly.

He decided not to ask.

"Some C-Sec agent is in a tiff because that bartender at Chora's den is an undercover agent. He thinks I was blowing her cover. Shepard wants me to go and sort it out." Harry explained.

"Maybe we should get straight to it." Tali said eagerly.

"Now? I really don't want to go jumping through hoops for some idiot police officer who doesn't have the nerves to handle his mission." Harry scoffed.

The ladies were grinning wider.

"You don't want to get a bad reputation. The Council has already-"

"Tali, what's going on? Are… are they bullying you?" He asked as quietly as he could.

Which was fairly pointless as Tali was on the other side of Nelyna from him.

"They are not bullying." Shiala smirked. "But they are teasing and embarrassing her."

"It is very rare that we have guests to dinner." Sha'ira sighed. "We may have gotten a little carried away. I apologise Tali. Harry, you should take your friends and sort out this misunderstanding. You will always be welcome back here. In fact, I insist you all come and dine with us whenever you are available."

Tali was out of her seat like a shot. "Thank you for dinner. Very nice. Nice to meet you. Bye."

Harry was fairly certain that the infra-red detectors in his eyes could see the heat trail she left behind.

The acolytes just laughed.

"Come along, Harry. Let's go and deal with the uppity… erm… 'pleese officer'." Shiala sighed as she came and helped him out of his seat.

"'Pol-ice'." Harry corrected absently as he was led out.

As the trio left, Nelyna turned to the Consort. "My Lady, I would like to ask for an exception on the ban for bets."

Sha'ira rolled her eyes. For all the grace and manners she taught them, they were still just a bunch of girls. "No, they would not appreciate us making more entertainment from them."

"What if we gave them a large cut of the winnings?" Another asari asked.

Sha'ira paused thoughtfully. "I'll think about it."

* * *

><p>During the short walk across the bridge to the other side of the river, Harry had asked Tali what had happened but she had denied that anything had happened.<p>

Once they reached C-Sec they checked in at the desk to find out who wanted to see them. They were sent upstairs to see Detective Chellick.

"You!" Shiala snarled as she recognised the turian who had tried to shoulder check Harry at the bar.

"Mind yourself asari." Chellick sneered. He turned to Harry. "I don't care what species you think you are king of you don't break the law on the Citadel."

"And have we broken any laws?" Harry asked calmly.

"Interfering in an ongoing investigation is an offence. Something you were doing when you were talking to my undercover operative."

"That would imply that I knew she was undercover. If you are going to assume that I knew she was, then you need to charge everyone who ordered a drink from her." Harry said as he folded his arms.

"You were the only one asking why she worked there."

"Because I was curious. I have been asking all sorts of people those sorts of questions!" Harry said in exasperation. "She was the only female working in the room who wasn't a stripper! I just wanted to know why she chose to work there instead of somewhere like Flux."

"It was her sister, wasn't it? She sent you to talk to the girl."

"The Emissary is the head of two states. He deals with leaders not barmaids." Shiala snapped impatiently. "If your agent cannot handle such simple questions then she should not be working undercover."

"That is-"

"Huh… she's not C-Sec." Harry frowned.

"What?" Tali asked.

"She has never worked for C-Sec before. She never went through the academy, she never got a badge. There are no records of her even entering the building."

"All her records were purged." There was a hint of a gulp in Chellick's voice.

"No. I checked more than C-Sec's records. I did a direct check on her. I can find records and video footage of her since the day she was born to right now. She used to work at Flux, it seems you approached her there."

"You have an untrained civilian in a potentially lethal situation?" Shiala demanded angrily. "Just how foolish are you? It would have been one thing if she had already been working in Chora's Den, but you pulled her from the plush surroundings of Flux and threw her in that hell hole."

"She signed all the waivers. It's all above board." Chellick said dismissively.

"I wonder if Sha'ira knows any good lawyers." Harry mused.

"Couldn't we pull her out now?" Tali asked.

"Too dangerous." Shiala scowled. "People will question about where she went. If she turns up at Flux they might look deeper and discover this idiot." She glared at Chellick.

"If you interfere in my investigation I will haul you in and have you charged."

"I haven't pissed off Palin today." Harry mused. "Why don't we go and pay him a visit?" Harry suggested to his friends.

"Wait!" Chellick was suddenly very worried. He knew that, whilst the paperwork was in order, he wouldn't stand up against an inquiry. "I'll release Jenna from her cover."

"Great, now we just have to figure out how to get her out of Chora's Den without being made for a snitch." Harry smiled. Harry suddenly scowled as he glared into the distance. "I am not buying a strip club."

"…"

"It is the _worst_ idea you have ever come up with."

"Who is he talking to?" Chellick asked.

"Harry has a computer filled with geth in his head. They must be talking to him." Tali couldn't help but giggle at this side of the conversation.

"Money is not the be all and end all of all things."

"…"

"Yes, you made your point. There has to be a better way though."

"…"

"Fine… but if I get called a pimp I'm going to find a way to make you pay." Harry growled.

"What is a 'pimp'?" Tali asked Shiala.

"I have no idea. Probably a human term."

Harry turned to Shiala. "Do you know anyone trustworthy to run Chora's Den? Someone who will be able to stomp on criminals, protect the workers and patrons-"

"Run a strip club?" Tali asked sarcastically. "Not all asari are strippers." She glared at him.

"I didn't ask about that." Harry glared at her. "At the moment I want someone who can defend the place. Find me someone like that and they can hire another person to manage the business side."

"Oh." Tali said a little guiltily.

She couldn't stop herself from snapping at Harry these days. She didn't fear or distrust him anymore but she just tended to… jump down his throat.

She was now dealing with the uncomfortable revelation that the acolytes had brought to her attention. The geth could have told her she had moved from stage one to stage two: Anger.

"I know a few good people." Shiala nodded. "Some of my fellow commandos are entering the Matron stage and will need some stability."

"A few might be good." Harry said thoughtfully. "They can work shifts. I'll leave it to you and the geth then. I'll just provide the money."

"You aren't going to audition new dancers?" She asked teasingly.

She had to stifle the urge to laugh as Tali glared at her.

"One: I can't dance.

"Two: I don't know anything about dancing.

"Three: I know very little about women but I do know not to get involved there." Harry said firmly.

"It's called learning, Harry." Shiala sighed.

"If you three are done, can you get out of here? I have to try and salvage weeks of work." Chellick growled unhappily.

"Look, you can still use the security footage from the bar, you just can't use innocent and vulnerable civilians." Harry stated. "I'll even have more security put in."

"More security would drive the criminals away." Chellick sighed.

"Shiala, make a note, more security!" Harry said happily.

"That would drive customers away." She pointed out gently.

"Rats."

"Just go. I'll tell Jenna she is free. I'll warn her not to quit until-"

"Wait a minute, you said you thought her sister sent me." Harry frowned. "How far has the sister gone to get Jenna out of there?"

"From what Jenna said, she's done everything short of going down and dragging her out."

"Oh, well, leave it to me." Harry smiled.

* * *

><p>Harry and his two friends headed to the residential areas of the wards where Jenna lived. When the door opened the poor girl turned white as a sheet and fainted.<p>

Harry managed to catch her just before she hit the floor.

"Do you think she recognised us?" Harry asked as he carried the young woman to the couch.

"Possibly."

"Alright, I'll sneak over to Rita and bring her back here." Harry said as he activated his cloak and vanished.

Twenty minutes later and Harry apparated back to Jenna's with an unconscious Rita.

"Do I stink or something? This one collapsed as well." Harry frowned as he settled Rita on the couch next to her sister.

"Did you knock on her door or just reappear in front of her?" Tali asked.

"The second one."

"Then no, it isn't that you stink but that you are an idiot." She said dryly.

"What?"

"You frightened her, Harry." Shiala sighed. "Now, can you wake them up with your powers?"

A quick enervate had two very scared sisters on the couch.

"Please, let my sister go. She doesn't have anything to do with this. I'll do whatever you want!" Jenna begged as she hugged her sister.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." That was pretty much the extent of Rita's contribution.

"Would you two relax?" Harry said in exasperation. "I just came from convincing Chellick to release you as an undercover agent."

"WHAT?!" Rita had gone from terrified to incensed at the revelation of what her sister had been up to.

"SHUT UP!" Harry roared. "Sweet Merlin! I have had a long day. I really just want to go to bed but that idiot of a C-Sec Detective decided to accuse me of breaking your cover. My friends and I convinced him of the illegality of using an innocent civilian so we are here now to figure out how to get you out of Chora's Den without revealing you as a snitch."

Jenna sank back into the sofa in relief. "Thank god."

"Just how serious is this situation?" Rita asked.

"She was looking for info on gun smuggling." Shiala explained.

"At least she wasn't stripping." Tali offered.

The glare from Jenna told Tali that she wasn't helping.

"How do we get her out then?" Rita asked as she calmed herself.

"During her next shift you go to Chora's Den cause a big sisterly argument and bodily drag your younger sister out of there. Most of the species that frequent the place understand the obligation to submit to senior family members."

"The management will still come after me. They've been pressuring me to start stripping." Jenna said mournfully.

"I just bought the place, anyone tries to make you do anything and they will be lucky if I just fire them."

"Will my friends who you want to run the place be allowed to enforce and apply that rule?" Shiala asked.

"Sure. Try not to kill anyone, but the geth and I work for free will. It's why we conquered the batarians."

"You're him!" Rita said with wide eyes. "You're the Emissary of the Geth."

"And this is why I hate fame." Harry grumbled.

"Do you know… our brother… is he still alive?" Rita asked anxiously. "He was kidnapped by batarian slavers two years ago. We were working to save up money to try and buy him back."

"Batarians don't work like that." Shiala said sadly. "They never sell slaves back to a family."

"Richard Dawkins, age twenty-eight. Currently on board the fifth fleet and heading for… oh… Terra Nova. I would have thought they would be too busy to handle refugees." Harry mused.

"He's alive?" Jenna asked.

"Alive, a little beaten, but intact. He doesn't require more immediate medical attention so that is all I know."

"How much will it cost to have get him back?" Rita asked instantly.

Harry looked offended. "I did _not_ just destroy the largest institutionalised slavery ring in the galaxy just to start my own! All the former slaves will be returned home by either the geth, the alliance or the Free People of Bataria."

Tali growled as Jenna launched herself at Harry, hugging him and crying.

"Why does this keep happening?" Harry muttered as he awkwardly patted her back.

Rita smiled tearily as she pulled her sister back.

"Do you know when he will be able to leave?" She asked.

"That I can't say. It all depends on getting transport arranged for groups of people. We have millions of slaves and hundreds of planets to get them to.

"For humans, I would imagine that Earth and the Citadel will be the destination for many of them. That might require one or two trips."

"As long as he is safe." Rita nodded.

"Well, try giving him a call. He might try calling you. The geth are setting up information and communication terminals so they can find out what has happened to their loved ones since they were taken."

"We will." Rita said as she kept a firm grip on her sister as she made another lunge for Harry.

Harry stood up and stretched slightly. "Just remember to cause a big scene tomorrow. Or don't." He said thoughtfully. "Working conditions should be changing very soon and hopefully your pay will rise to the same as you would make in Flux."

"I'll stay." Jenna said quickly. "I definitely don't want to leave you short handed and I have made a few friends there."

* * *

><p>The trio headed back to the Normandy intent on getting some shut-eye. Unfortunately there was an anxious turian waiting for him at the dock.<p>

"Emissary, I have been looking for you."

"General Septimus, is there a problem?" Harry asked cautiously.

"No, I spoke to Sha'ira and after we talked, she pointed out that my contacts might be able to help you." He handed over an OSD. "These are reports on a salarian STG team that was sent to the planet Virmire to investigate reports of Saren."

"They found the little rats hideout." Harry mused.

"So it would seem. But I must warn you, there has been no contact from the STG team."

"Which is a good indication that Saren is there. It would take a lot to bring down an salarian Special Tasks Group."

"If I find out more I will forward it to you."

"Thank you very much General. We greatly appreciate it."

"You may not be a Spectre, but you are certainly working for galactic peace. It is the least I could do." Septimus said before giving a nod to Harry and his companions and marching off.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry had tossed the OSD to Shepard, told him it was reliable and then declared he was going to bed.

Shiala had put a stop to Shepard calling him back though. The young human had been through enough for the day.

Instead, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to Virmire; they met Harry's ship at the relay where it joined them.

The next day they entered the Hoc system of the Sentry Omega cluster. The team assembled in the conference room.

"Intel acquired by Harry's contacts shows that a salarian STG team was investigating Saren's possible activities on this planet." Shepard informed them. "Their message was garbled though, so we don't know much."

"Could be a trap." Ashley offered. "Like the marines and the thresher maw."

"Sensors are picking up a heavy blanket of AA guns. I doubt that even Harry's ship could slip in unnoticed." Kaiden reported.

"We _could_ take the Stingray in low and eliminate the AA guns." Harry suggested. "Or we could blow them from orbit."

"We don't have any orbital strike ordinance." Shepard pointed out.

"Technically." Harry shrugged. "Geth platforms are designed to be dropped on a planet from orbit. The boys could easily be rigged to explode on impact."

"You'd just kill them so casually?" Liara asked in horror.

"Don't mistake the platforms for being actual geth. The geth treat their platforms like you treat clothes. The geth are digital life forms, they prefer to exist in cyberspace as opposed to the physical world." Harry lectured. "The geth wouldn't be in the platforms, they would just be dumb bombs."

"There aren't enough platforms for all the AA guns." Kaiden shook his head.

"And I don't want to waste a good soldier like that. It doesn't matter if the platforms are not the geth, the platforms are ideal for interactions between geth and organics." Shepard said.

"Then we take the Stingray in and take out the AA guns." Garrus said.

"I think we should leave that for later." Harry mused. "We don't know what the situation is on the planet. We should find out first. I recommend an orbital drop, we investigate on foot and then we plan with the new info."

"Not all of us can survive an orbital drop." Ashley glared at him.

"I can transfigure you all into marbles, put you in my pocket and take you down myself before restoring you planet side."

"There is absolutely no part of that plan I like." Ashley shuddered.

"Agreed." Kaiden looked slightly pale.

"Too bad." Shepard decided. "It's our best plan and leaves plenty of resources in reserve. Can we take our gear?"

"Take what you like. Magic won't care."

* * *

><p>Whilst everyone was gearing up, Tali nervously approached the wizard.<p>

"Harry, I took the nanites last night. Will they be affected by this?"

Harry smiled brightly. "Glad to hear it. How far along are they?"

"I… how do I tell?" She asked.

Harry activated her omni-tool. "Eighty percent. You could easily lose the suit now. At the minute they are just optimising things like memory and muscles. You might find you are faster and stronger, but not significantly so. But your immune system is bulletproof.

"And no, this process won't affect them. It puts you in a sort of stasis. You won't even realise that time has passed."

"I can really take my mask off?" She asked in awe.

"Of course. From what I've seen, Virmire might be a nice place to try it. Lot's of nature to enjoy."

* * *

><p>Captain Kirrahe of the 3rd Infiltration Regiment, STG, was examining the latest reconnaissance images his scouts had brought back. It seemed that they weren't going to get any help from the Council and that they were going to have to run a suicide mission to stop Saren's work. They couldn't let him continue.<p>

There was a sudden crash outside and Kirrahe grabbed his sidearm and sprinted for the mouth of tent.

Standing in a ten foot wide crater was a dark haired human in black armour.

"Who's in charge here?" The human asked calmly.

He didn't seem bothered by the large group of Salarians pointing weapons at him.

"I am, human, Captain Kirrahe, 3rd Infiltration Regiment, STG. Who are you?" Kirrahe asked cautiously.

"Harry Potter, I work with Spectre Commander Shepard. We were assigned by the Council to bring in former Spectre, Saren Arterius."

"How did you infiltrate our camp?" From the looks of the crater the human had fallen from the sky.

"I erm… just dropped in." Harry shrugged.

"Where is your Spectre? We asked the Council to send the fleet."

"Really? You need better equipment then. All we got was garbled messages." Harry frowned.

Kirrahe tried very hard not to take offence.

"Listen, can you get your people to stop pointing weapons at me? I need to get the rest of the team here and I'd rather they didn't start shooting." He asked quietly.

"That depends, can you provide me with your credentials?"

"No. I don't have credentials. You wouldn't be able to verify them anyway considering you couldn't even get a message to the Council." Harry pointed out.

"Then I am going to have to-"

"Not be stupid and let me get the Spectre here so we can deal with Saren and get you home."

"You could be an agent from Saren." Kirrahe argued.

Harry sighed. "I guess I can't fault you for being cautious but I don't have time to argue with you."

Harry's hand shot into the air and the salarians were contained in a stasis field.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a bag of marbles which he placed on the ground and began pulling one out at a time and reversing the transfiguration.

Harry chuckled at the wide eyes of the salarians behind the stasis field.

"Shit that's creepy." Ashley shuddered as she took in her new surroundings. "I swear I was just on the Normandy."

"Harry, why are these people in stasis?" Shepard asked carefully.

"They were being cautious, but we don't have the time or the means to satisfy them so I took proactive measures." He said as he finished the team off with Garrus.

"Can you release them please?" Shepard asked.

Harry let the fields drop.

The guns were instantly pointed at the team.

"You do remember what happened a few minutes ago, right?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Stand down. I am a Council Spectre. We received intelligence you were here and you might need help. Our primary goal is to bring in Saren, but we will do all we can to get your men off this planet."

"You have credentials?" Kirrahe asked.

Shepard activated his omni-tool as Kirrahe activated his.

"Your codes check out." Kirrahe confirmed. "As Potter has previously stated, we can't verify them directly so we will just have to rely on trust." He said unhappily.

"We can easily do this without you." Shepard offered. "Once we have taken down the AA guns you and your men can just leave."

"You really think it is that simple? I used to have more than a hundred men here. Saren has captured and killed many. He has an army of geth and krogans. All you have is a what looks like a bunch of misfits."

"Which explains why you have lost so many men." Harry snarked.

"Ash."

"On it Commander." Ashley said as she grabbed Harry by the shoulder and dragged him off, Shiala and Tali following behind.

Once they were out of earshot, Ashley turned to Harry. "Try _not_ to insult a man by bringing up his fallen comrades." She glared at him.

Harry winced. "Ah… that really wasn't on, was it?" He admitted.

Before Ash could react Harry was jogging back over to Shepard and the others.

"Captain, I just wanted to apologise for the offensive remark I made about your fallen men." Harry bowed.

Kirrahe eyed him suspiciously. "I've never known any species to willingly own up to his mistakes."

"Which is why there is so much conflict in the galaxy." Harry shrugged.

"I can't argue with that. I accept your apology." Kirrahe said graciously.

"Thank you." Harry said before jogging back to the others.

"That was really… good, Harry." Tali said thoughtfully.

"Kirrahe was wrong to belittle us, but I know I crossed a line myself." Harry said.

"What do you reckon the plan will be?" Ashley asked.

"Personally I would sneak in to discover what I can and then see if there is something to blow up. Maybe even take a shot at Saren if he is there." Harry said.

"A strike team comprised of the Commander's team would be able to clear out any opposition." Shiala gave her opinion.

"But it would alert Saren." Harry argued lightly. "What if he starts to destroy evidence?"

"We need evidence to convince the Council that the Reapers are a credible threat." Ashley nodded.

"Leave the planning to Shepard." Tali said. "We all know you will pick holes in it later and insult someone whilst doing it."

"So Tali… here you are. On a beautiful paradise planet… and you still have your mask on." Harry grinned.

"Oh… well, it is very personal when quarian's show their face." She said shyly. "Usually it is something we do when we are dying. A last chance of freedom from our suits."

"If you want we will turn away." Ashley offered.

"Then you can make all the funny faces you want at our backs." Harry said seriously.

"Shit!" Ashley scowled as she pulled her gun.

Standing nearly one hundred feet away, Wrex and Shepard were standing alone and pointing weapons at each other.

"Wait here." Harry ordered before he apparated between the two males.

"One of you want to explain why my friends are looking to kill each other?" Harry asked as he looked between the two.

"Saren has developed a cure for the genophage. Shepard wants to destroy it." Wrex growled.

"Is that true?"

"It's not a real cure." Shepard argued. "I've read up on the genophage and it reeks of… the Nazi holocaust."

"Can't argue with that." Harry said in disgust. "So what is this about it not being a real cure?"

"It's Saren! It has to come with a catch." Shepard declared. "He wants to help the reapers wipe out all organic life, he would have put a failsafe into his cure."

"But it is still a chance!" Wrex snapped. "We could give the cure to Binary-Helix. They have been working on a cure for ages. The krogan own most of the company."

"Wrex, using anything that came from Saren is asking for trouble." Harry reasoned. "Trust me, if you knew what Shepard meant by 'Nazi Holocaust' you would know he understood your position. But… give me a second." Harry said as he put his chin on his fist in thought.

"Geth?" Wrex asked.

"Geth." Shepard nodded.

A few seconds later Harry began to grin. "Oh, we are _very_ good." He said smugly. "Wrex, the geth can't cure the genophage, but we can bypass it and prevent it from being passed onto krogan children."

"Bypass it?" Shepard asked.

"Nanites." Harry said proudly. "The genophage is a despicable piece of work because it doesn't act like… a condom by preventing pregnancy, it actually kills the baby. If I ever meet the people who created it I will kill them." He scowled.

"Harry, focus." Shepard chided.

"Huh? Oh, well the nanites can protect the foetus in the womb and modify the initial cells to remove the genophage. All currently living krogan would still be infected but the infection would have no effect."

"In simple terms, Runt." Wrex sighed.

"Krogan make many, many babies." Harry smiled cheesily.

Wrex collapsed his shotgun and slung it over his back. "Good enough."

"They have dedicated a server to programming the nanites. Which means they've already finished." Harry mused with a raised eyebrow. "Oh well." He shrugged. "It will take them a few months to generate enough nanites for you to distribute to the rest of the krogan."

"Before you start passing out the baby makers, Wrex needs to sit down with a team to come up with a plan to handle the expected rise in krogans." Shepard said seriously.

Wrex growled at him.

"Can Tuchanka handle thousands of new babies? Does it have the food needed?" Shepard reasoned.

Wrex backed down unhappily.

"You also need a plan to educate the new krogans so they don't make the mistake of trying to fight everybody. Otherwise the salarians and turians will just try and eradicate you like they did with the rachni."

"You've made your point Shepard." Wrex grumbled. "Like the Runt said, we've got a few months."

Shepard called his team together with Captain Kirrahe to go over the plan.

"Alenko, take Tali and Liara, we are going to be blowing this place to kingdom come. You will wait by the reservoir for the Normandy to deliver the drive core of the STG's ship. Rig it to blow and then evacuate.

"Williams, you will be leading Garrus and Wrex with Captain Kirrahe's men to provide a distraction. Make it look like an all out assault but don't put yourself in the line of fire.

"The rest will be with me. We are going into the complex to try and find some evidence."

"Couldn't I just sneak in and try to assassinate Saren?" Harry pouted.

"He's got geth in there Harry, can you hide from them and all their high-powered sensors?" Shepard asked pointedly.

Harry pouted harder.

"Can we at least call in the Stingray?" Garrus asked.

"Only if Saren doesn't seem to be buying your distraction." Shepard agreed. "I want to keep it in reserve."

* * *

><p>As Harry and the others made their way through the complex they could hear some very loud explosions.<p>

"I hope Ash and the others remembered I enhanced the grenades." Harry grimaced.

"I'm sure they've figured it out by now." Shepard sighed.

"Contacts ahead." Harry said quietly. "Three geth."

"Everyone pick a target. We will take them out at once." Shepard ordered as he pulled out his sniper rifle.

Shiala pulled out her shotgun and readied a biotic pull whilst Harry raised his hand.

"Three, two, one."

There were two loud bangs and the three geth fell to the floor.

"What spell did you use this time?" Shepard asked curiously. Harry's target was missing its head as it had been neatly sliced off and was rolling on the floor.

"A cutting spell. I figured that as this was a covert mission, loud bangs would be bad." He said dryly.

Shepard decided to ignore him.

"I'm picking up salarian life forms on the lower levels." Harry said as they entered the exterior of the base.

"Prisoners?" Shepard pondered.

"Commander, you know Saren has no need for prisoners." Shiala reminded him. "They are more likely experiments."

"All the more reason to help them." Harry said as he hopped over the railing to land on the level below.

Shiala helped Shepard down with her biotics before following herself.

There were several cells, each with a clear door. Each contained a group of salarians, except one.

"Why are you on your own?" Harry asked curiously.

"Too dangerous to be with others. Know I will fight. Know I will escape!" The salarian said in a hyperactive manner.

"You were experimented on?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. Experiments. Prodding, probing. Not a problem. But the whispering. Incessant whispering… so loud!"

"Sounds like indoctrination. Benezia spoke of whispering." Harry mused.

"I can confirm it." Shiala nodded. "These men have been deafened to all but Saren's will."

"This one seems different though. Why is he able to communicate and the others aren't?" Shepard wondered.

"Because he tried to fight it." Harry said with approval. "The others must have tried too, but in they end all that happened is they lost their minds. This one tried, I think he's just a bomb waiting to go off."

"Can we do anything for them? Can the geth help them?"

Harry raised his hand, encasing the salarians in a stasis field. "We'll take them with us. It won't hurt to try. But this maybe more tricky. The asari and Benezia went willingly. They never realised what was happening. These men knew and tried to fight."

"The indoctrination is insidious." Shiala scowled as she and Shepard covered Harry as he transfigured the salarians into marbles.

It didn't take long before they entered the next block where there were more salarians in cells.

Again, one cell in particular contained only one detainee.

"Well, you're not geth. And you're not wearing a lab coat. I guess I'm glad to see you." The salarian commented wryly. "Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infiltration Regiment, captured during recon. I assume the fleet was called in to destroy the base."

"The transmission wasn't clear. The fleet isn't coming." Shepard informed him.

"I see." Ganto said thoughtfully. "Then you must be the infiltration team. I know the Captain. He will want the base destroyed. My team was altered, indoctrinated."

"We know. We just picked up a few of your comrades for evacuation. We can do the same for the rest here." Harry promised.

"Not sure there is anything to be done. The whispers are… persistent. Becoming harder to ignore." Ganto admitted sadly.

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't try." Shepard argued.

Ganto straightened proudly. "Of course. Even if unable to reverse effects, may learn more to help future victims. Maybe even prevent indoctrination. Proud to serve."

Harry chuckled as he raised his hand initiating another stasis field. "Ganto, there is no need to be so pessimistic. Hopefully, when you wake up, the whispers will be gone."

With no more salarians to rescue, the three person team headed into the interior of the base. There were a few krogan to deal with but Harry and Shiala worked together to deal with them silently. She would pull them towards Harry and he would ram his sword through their mouths.

Eventually they came across an office area with one lone, frightened asari.

"Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late!"

"Who are you?" Harry asked curiously.

"Rana Thanoptis, neuro-specialist. But this job isn't worth dying over… or worse." She said as she nervously rubbed her hands together.

"Neuro specialist, huh? That means you've been studying the brains of the salarians, right? Harry asked with an almost professional interest.

"That's right. I can give you everything I have. But the indoctri-"

"So, you want us to let you go after you've just confessed that you've willingly been experimenting on good people?" Harry let his anger show.

"I- I-"

"You_ will_ tell us everything. If you refuse I will rip it from your head." Harry snarled before he punching her across the cheek and sending her smashing against the wall.

"Dammit Harry! Was that necessary?" Shepard snapped as he checked on the now unconscious scientist.

"You saw the salarians, Commander." Shiala said icily as she glared at the insensate form of Rana. "She deserves far worse."

"I meant she could have given us more intel. Like how to open this door?" He said as he gestured to the keypad next to the door opposite the one they came in.

"Oh… well I can handle the door." Harry said a little sheepishly. He quickly transfigured Rana and dropped her in his pocket. He then started hacking the door.

It didn't take long for the team to make it to a small lab guarded by a couple of heretics and two krogans.

Harry took out the geth silently with a couple of _Diffindos_ before he and Shiala worked together again to silently take out the krogans.

Harry hacked their way into the lab. Digitally that is.

The inside was divided into three levels. On the bottom was something very familiar.

"Another beacon." Shepard breathed. "Well, here goes nothing." He said as he purposefully walked towards it.

"And he has the gall to call you reckless." Shiala chuckled. "Humans are certainly more impulsive than many of the galaxies various species, but you can be just as hypocritical as the rest of us."

Harry smiled at her as they watched Shepard, suspended in the air.

Eventually Shepard fell to the floor, exhausted.

"Finished?" Harry called out.

"Yes." Shepard groaned as he got to his feet. "We need to get to Ilos. That is where the Conduit is."

Harry sent out a transfiguration spell to the beacon only for it to have no effect.

"That's new." Harry muttered.

"Maybe it is because the beacon is still active." Shiala offered. "Is there a way to turn it off?"

"I can do that." Shepard said as he headed back over and activated an interface panel. "Ok, try now."

Harry sent the spell and the beacon shrunk down.

Shepard picked it up and chuckled. "A Rubik's cube?"

"It is a bit of a puzzle." Harry said as he took it and dropped it in a pocket. "And we don't want to mistake it for one of the marbles."

Above them a red hologram appeared on the upper level.

The team quickly headed up.

As they approached a deep, booming, synthetic voice sounded.

"**You are not Saren."**

"No we aren't, Nazara." Harry smirked darkly.

"This is the Reaper?" Shepard asked with wide eyes.

"**Rudimentary creatures of flesh and blood. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."** It said in a monotone voice.

"We understand perfectly." Shepard retorted. "We know all about your plans. We will stop you."

"**Organic life is nothing but a mutation, an accident. Your lives-"**

"I am _really_ not in the mood to listen to another evil rant." Harry groaned loudly.

Nazara paused.

"**The human-geth hybrid. The Emissary. We will absorb your knowledge and control all geth."**

"What makes you think you can control me if you couldn't control the geth?" Harry said warily.

"**Your mind is still organic, but you hold the secrets of the geth. They will fall before us."**

"ARRGH!" Harry fell to his knees holding his head.

"Harry!" Shiala shouted as she knelt beside him.

Shepard pulled his pistol and looked for some sort of holo-emitter but couldn't find anything.

"You… you think I haven't been possessed before?" Harry ground out. "You think you are the first person to try and rifle through my mind?"

"**You will fall."** The voice stated.

"I've never fallen before and I won't now."

"**You **_**will**_** fall."** This time it was more of a command.

Harry called on everything he knew about firewalls, viruses and electronic defences and worked with the geth to bolster his mind.

Then he turned to magic.

His head shot up and he looked directly at the holographic projection. _"LEGILLIMENS!"_ He roared.

"**Impossible."** The voice stated. **"You cannot defeat us. We are eternal. Your end is inevitable."**

Harry remained silent as he gritted his teeth and focused everything on looking for a weakness to exploit.

"**This exchange is over."** The voice declared before a power surge built up and the windows exploded.

The hologram vanished and Harry collapsed.

"Harry? Master, wake up!" Shiala said anxiously.

Harry remained unconscious.

"_Commander, we've got trouble."_ Joker's voice came over the radio.

"Go ahead."

"_The Reaper, it just pulled a move that would shear any of our ships in half and it is heading your way._

"_It's coming your way and it's coming hard. You need to wrap things up… fast!"_

"Meet us at the krogan breeding facility, Joker. Warn Chakwas that Harry is out and might need attention."

"_Shit. On it. Normandy out."_ It was clear that Joker was worried about Harry. The two had bonded over tales of flights and jokes.

"He won't wake up." Shiala looked like she was close to tears.

"If he's not dead then it's not too late." Shepard assured her as he hoisted the younger man into a fireman's carry. "You take the point.

The pair headed out. They abandoned stealth for speed and power.

Many a krogan learned why an asari commando was to be feared as Shiala tore through them, venting her anger and fear through powerful, efficient and deadly biotics.

They reached the hydro-power station that ran the facility, there was a large open reservoir where Joker was able to bring in the Normandy. The geth had cleared out the AA guns using ground runs in the Stingray.

Shepard quickly handed off Harry to two men with a stretcher as Alenko, Tali and Liara brought out the rigged nuclear bomb being carried very carefully by four marines.

"_Commander, things are getting hot here."_ Ashley called over the radio. _"We're beginning to take casualties."_

"Geth, can you hear me? Can you get in and pull them out?" Shepard asked.

"_Confirmed. Stingray is en route. Emissary's ship will provide cover."_ Came the digital voice. It was actually a relief to hear the geth's synthetic tones after hearing Nazara's.

"Acknowledged. Ash, you hear that?"

"_I can see Harry's ship now. We're falling back now. Williams out."_

"_Commander, the geth platforms are moving out of the hanger."_ Joker reported.

"I see them Joker. Keep the engines primed."

Sure enough, the geth trooper that had lost its arm on Therum was coming down the ramp.

It stopped in front of Shepard and pointed at his omni-tool.

As he raised it a voice sounded.

"_This unit will guard the device and ensure detonation. Please vacate the area."_

"You don't need to sacrifice yourself. We will stay together." Shepard assured it.

"_We appreciate the concern, Shepard Commander. This is not sacrifice. The unit is damaged. The geth programs will evacuate at the last second. There will be no loss of geth."_

"Harry did say that the geth treat their platforms like we treat clothes." Kaiden reasoned.

"Alright, we will leave the platform here. We will provide air support." Shepard offered.

"_Acknowledged. ALERT: Incoming contact."_ The platform raised its weapon in the direction of the base.

Saren crested the tall concrete walls on some sort of glider surrounded by drones.

"I applaud you Shepard." Saren said loudly as he floated in the air. "My geth-"

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the Stingray flying in low and pelting Saren.

Saren's shields and biotic barrier held despite being thrown off his glider, the geth drones where swatted like flies.

"_WOOHOOO! We've got your back Commander." _Ashley's excited voice. _"We've got several casualties but no fatalities. Recommend you set the timer and make tracks. The geth say the Stingray can out run the blast so we'll hold the line here till the last second."_

"Roger that Chief. We are bugging out." Shepard said as Kaiden began ordering the crew back on board. He turned to the geth platform. "You don't need to stay here. We'll show you how organics can take something broken and make it stronger."

"_Acknowledged Shepard Commander."_


	13. Chapter 13

Harry groaned as he regained consciousness. He thought it was a very depressing fact to wake up only to need more sleep. But he had been hard at work during his unconsciousness, trying to deal with the knowledge he had stolen from Nazara and repairing the damage done.

Harry had come very close to being indoctrinated. It was only the geth nanites that allowed him to remain free.

He had hit back hard though with his own mental attack. It was something that the geth were analysing furiously in an attempt to replicate it.

"You are finally awake Emissary."

Harry recognised the dual tone voice of a familiar turian. "General Septimus?"

Harry opened his eyes and saw that he was lying in the Normandy's infirmary. "Are we back at the Citadel?" He asked as he sat up.

"You were docked for a short while." Septimus admitted. "But the Council along with your human ambassador showed extreme levels of stupidity and had the Normandy locked down and the crew confined to quarters."

"Oh that is just bloody brilliant." Harry sighed. "Where are we now?"

"As the Normandy is a joint turian-human project, I have taken command to escort it back to Palaven for examination and decommissioning."

"I don't know you that well, General, but I know you well enough to know that is a load of bull." Harry snorted.

"Well, I had intended to order the ship to Ilos to intercept Saren but the Commander insisted on a mutiny and had me placed in secure custody under the care of his ship's physician. I told him it wasn't necessary but he was very forceful in his view that I remain above board on these matters.

"So here I am. Watching you sleep whilst reviewing all the data we have on Saren."

"Why are we going to Ilos?" Harry asked quickly.

"To find the Conduit and stop Saren from using it. You are lucky. We entered the system just a few minutes ago."

"Harry, you're awake. The geth warned me you were up." Chakwas said as she entered.

"Love to stay and chat Doctor but the General and I need to see Shepard immediately. General, hold your breath and brace yourself." Harry warned before grabbing the older male and apparating away.

* * *

><p>Harry and Septimus arrived at the CIC with Septimus attempting to cough up his gizzard stones. "Spirits, what was that?" He wheezed.<p>

"Shepard, the conduit isn't a weapon." Harry said quickly. "It's a mass effect relay that leads into the Citadel. The protheans made it as a back door. Saren intends to use it to launch a surprise invasion. Oh, and the Citadel itself is a mass relay that Nazara needs to activate in order to let the rest of the Reapers through."

"This wasn't in the beacon's data." Shepard frowned.

"I stole the knowledge from Nazara. It's one of the reasons I've been out cold. I've been trying to process it and beat off indoctrination."

"Are you safe?" Shepard was wishing that he had his side arm.

"The geth protected me." He promised. "We need to warn the Citadel."

"Leave that to me." Septimus said.

"General, the Council won't listen to you anymore than they will listen to me." Shepard reasoned.

"I have no intention of trying to convince those idiots of anything. Theirs is a clear example of power going to their heads and causing them to believe they are incapable of mistakes." Septimus scoffed. "I have my own personal contacts who will ensure measures are put into place and that, should Saren make it through this Conduit, he will be given an exquisite reception." He grinned as he headed back towards the conference room.

"We'll go through with our current plan to follow after Saren. There is a good chance that we can catch him before he opens the conduit." Shepard decided. "Are you fit for combat?"

"Fit as a fiddle." Harry smiled.

"Then gear up and meet everyone at the Stingray. We drop in thirty."

* * *

><p>"STOP *<strong>thump<strong>* GETTING ***thump*** INJURED! ***thump***"

Harry shielded his head with his arms as Ashley and Tali pounded on him.

"Aren't you supposed to be protecting me?" He called out to Shiala who was nearby smirking.

"Think of this as teaching you to protect yourself."

"Ladies, that's enough. We might need his brain planet side." Shepard quipped as he boarded the Stingray.

Septimus would re-assume command of the Normandy once the Stingray was off. He would return to the Citadel to lead any incursion by the heretics and Saren by ship.

"I've got a sighting on Saren!" Kaiden reported from his station in the Stingray as they neared the ground.

"Fire all weapons." Shepard ordered as he manned the main cannon.

The torrent of fire that rained down on Saren's position was enough to wipe out the Normandy.

In fact, Shepard thought it was fairly ridiculous that this tiny vessel could take on an Alliance frigate.

"We may have singed him but I think he got through. There is a closed door that was open a moment ago." Kaiden informed them.

"Can we blast it open?" Wrex asked.

"I doubt it. It just survived everything we threw at Saren." Kaiden growled.

"There must be a door release somewhere." Liara reasoned. "Saren must have been able to open it."

"Provided it wasn't open when he got here." Shiala countered.

"I would prefer to hope for Liara's option." Tali remarked.

"We'll soon find out." Shepard decided. "Harry, take us down. We'll recon the area and see what we can find."

* * *

><p>Although they couldn't blast through the doors, Tali and Harry were able to use the power core of the Stingray to reverse the polarity on the door and force it open. It still took them nearly twenty minutes.<p>

"Harry you bastard! I'm going to kill you!" Ashley screamed as the former Quidditch player flew the Stingray through tight tunnels at insane speeds.

"Embrace eternity. Embrace eternity. Embrace eternity." Liara had her eyes squeezed shut and was chanting quickly.

Wrex and Shiala were cursing up a storm.

Tali had turned her facemask completely opaque.

Shepard and Garrus seemed unbothered and Kaiden… Kaiden hadn't said anything and hadn't moved.

"ALERT! Distance from ground is less than one metre. ALERT! Distance from left wall is less than fifty centimetres."

The geth also seemed to be panicking.

"Shit!" Harry shouted as the ship came to a halt so fast that the crew were nearly thrown from their seats.

"For fuck's sake Harry!" Ashley snapped. "Sorry Tali, I know you wanted to try him out but I _have_ to kill him!"

"Say what?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Ashley!" Tali gasped in horror.

"Focus people. Harry, why did we stop?" Shepard asked.

"There's a force field in our way. It shot up as we got near."

"Alenko, can you get any readings?"

There was no response.

"Kaiden!" Shepard barked.

"I think the boy has become catatonic." Shiala chuckled.

"Damn it. Liara, check the sensors, find out all you can about the field, can we bring it down?"

"Aye Commander."

"Harry, try and fix Kaiden."

"Aye aye skipper." Harry said jauntily.

"Commander, I'm picking up power and data lines leading off to a small tunnel to the side. There are signs of a computer there too."

"Harry, leave Kaiden to Ash and Liara. I want you and Tali with me."

The trio quickly ran down the tunnel to where they found a prothean terminal.

A prothean VI activated as they approached. "You are not Prothean. But you are not machine… except you. You are part machine and part organic." It said. The VI was clearly damaged as the image was unclear.

"Yes, yes, we know what we are. Why the hell did you put that barrier up?" Harry demanded. "We are on a clock here, or are you working with Saren?"

"You must break the cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did."

"We know about the cycle and we know how to stop it. What we don't know is why you are stopping us. Get to the point or I will rip you apart bit by bit."

"Was that a programming joke?" Tali asked with narrowed eyes.

"Erm… if it was a good one then yes, otherwise… no." Harry shrugged.

"Focus people." Shepard decided this might have to become his new catchphrase.

"The last of the protheans were able to corrupt the creatures that maintain the Citadel. They no longer respond to the signal from the Reapers that tells them to open the Citadel. Saren is heading through the conduit to open the Citadel manually. In my databanks is a file that will corrupt the Citadel security and give you a chance to override Saren's commands."

Harry stepped forward and gazed at the console.

"Error. This system is shutting down. Unauthorized act-i-a- tie." The VI flickered and died.

"Harry… what did you do?" Shepard sighed.

"Downloaded everything the VI knew. I actually have the entire program stored in stasis. I already have the geth running around in there and I am not letting a stupid VI do the same."

"Did you at least get the file?"

"Of course. I said I got everything." Harry was offended.

"Did you remember to deactivate the barrier?" Tali asked.

"What do you people take me for? An amateur?" Harry demanded before he stormed past them. As he passed them he winced as he remotely deactivated the barrier.

Yes, he was an amateur. He hadn't been paid a day in his life.

* * *

><p>"Commander! I apologise for my-"<p>

"Can it Kaiden. We'll mock you later." Shepard informed the highly embarrassed lieutenant. "Harry, get us to the conduit. Buckle up boys and girls, we are on the clock."

Kaiden whimpered as the force of the Stingray's acceleration bled past the inertial dampeners and pinned them to their seats.

"Sir! Permission to resume screaming at Harry, sir!"

"Denied Chief! Check all systems. If Saren is already through then we are entering a hot zone filled with civilians. Check your fire people."

They quickly came in sight of the conduit… a mass relay… an _active_ mass relay.

"I've got multiple contacts ahead. Heavy armour. Colossi and Armatures." Garrus reported.

"There is no sign of Saren." Shiala added.

"I'm activating the blades." Harry informed them.

"Blades?" Kaiden was getting more and more worried.

"Brace yourselves!" Harry shouted.

On the wings and front edge of the Stingray a new layer flashed into existence as a silicon-carbide blade edge formed into a razor sharp edge the width of an atom.

It was so sharp that there was no resistance when cutting. It required a barrier or shield to stop it.

The Stingray flew low and in a straight line as Garrus, Wrex and Shepard tried futilely to shoot at the heretics despite the impossible speeds they were travelling at. Harry sliced through them with ease as he entered the miniature mass effect relay built by the protheans.

They vanished in a blast of light.

* * *

><p>"Sir, permission to take a moment to kiss the floor, sir?"<p>

"Later, Lieutenant." Shepard knew that Harry would be a bad influence on his only two soldiers. "Everybody disembark. Harry, you have point."

Harry hopped out of the Stingray and immediately raised his hands. "Whoa! Easy fellas. We're from the Normandy. General Septimus sent us." He told the five turians pointing guns at him.

The turians were clearly relieved as they lowered their weapons.

"Most of our squad was wiped out when Saren came through." The most senior turian explained as the others emerged. "We completely underestimated them based on the size of the monument." He indicated the now glowing and active miniature mass relay that sat as one of the few signs of life in the now dark and destroyed presidium.

"We can leave the Stingray here." Harry offered. "It can supply armoured support."

"Do it." Shepard agreed. "You five stay in the area and see to any civilian casualties you find. We need to push forward to stop Saren."

Shepard and his team quickly headed into the Citadel Tower elevator.

"Isn't there some rule about not using these things in an emergency?" Ashley queried.

"The tower is over two miles high… would _you_ want to try and climb all those stairs?" Garrus asked in amusement.

Then the elevator power shut down.

"Somebody hit Williams and Vakarian." Harry grumbled.

"Suit up everybody, it looks like we're taking a walk outside." Shepard ordered.

Once the team had their helmets on Wrex blew out the glass wall and they floated out.

"We've still got a mile to go and goddess knows how many enemies between us and there!" Liara nearly wailed.

"Everyone link hands and form a chain. Then deactivate your magnetic boots." Harry instructed.

"You aren't about to teleport all of us at once, are you?" Ashley asked warily.

"No, I'm going to fly us. The gravity is low enough to do it." Harry explained.

"I would just like to register my objections to this course of action, sir."

"Suck it up soldier. We've got a maniac to stop and we don't have time to hike." Shepard said as he took Harry's hand.

In truth, he didn't want to do this either.

Harry used the flight spell he used in the Council Chambers and began moving forward, they gradually increased speed.

Over the following few minutes, many geth and krogan looked up to see what looked like a chain of people dragging a large balloon.

Fortunately the security footage would be severely damaged so Wrex wouldn't have to suffer that embarrassment.

They soon reached the top of the lift shaft and Harry used a biotic throw to blast the doors inward, crushing two geth and a krogan.

Harry and Wrex stormed forward with Shiala, Ashley and Tali hot on their tails as they cleared out the rest of the geth and krogan.

They raced for the petitioner's platform only for Saren to appear on his glider and throw a grenade at them.

Shiala reacted quickly and tossed it back in his face with a biotic throw and he went flying into the large windows, his glider fell to the floor, sparking.

"Shepard, why won't you just die?!" Saren roared angrily.

"Shiala, throw me!" Harry shouted as he pulled his sword.

The asari commando didn't even hesitate and Harry went sailing through the air sword first courtesy of a biotic throw.

Saren died with a look of shock on his face and sword through his mouth.

"That's because you keep trying to monologue!" Harry grunted as he put his foot on Saren's forehead and pulled his sword out.

"That can _not_ be good." Ashley said with wide eyes as she took in the scene outside the windows.

Not only had the arms of the Citadel closed, but Nazara had also made it inside and was currently perched on the Citadel tower like a squid attacking its prey.

"Harry, open the arms. Hopefully there are enough ships out there to take out Sovereign." Shepard ordered.

Harry complied and the arms began to open… very slowly. Harry doubted there were any ships left that could deal with Sovereign as they would have done so before the arms closed… very slowly.

"Try opening a communications channel." Liara suggested.

"_This is the Destiny Ascension. The main drives are off line. Kinetic barriers down to 40%. The Council is on board, I repeat, the Council is on board!"_

"Now there's an incentive to stay away." Harry snorted.

"_Normandy to the Citadel. Is that you Commander, Harry?"_

"I'm here Joker, what's your status?" Shepard responded.

"_We caught that distress call, Commander. I'm sitting here in the Andura Sector with the entire Arcturus Fleet._

"_We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays around the Citadel and we'll send the cavalry in."_

"Are you really willing to sacrifice human lives to save the Council, Shepard?" Garrus asked heatedly.

"Screw the Council, Garrus." Harry said sadly. Garrus looked ready to smile until Harry continued. "There are over ten thousand decent asari on that ship. Do you really want to condemn them because of three idiots?"

Garrus looked suitably ashamed.

"Relays are open, Shepard." Harry said quietly.

"Joker, come on through and get the Ascension out of there."

"_Roger that Commander. Entering the relays now."_

Harry rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck. "If you good people will excuse me, I have a long over due appointment with a jumped up, arrogant calculator."

"Harry, isn't your ship with the fleet?" Kaiden asked.

Harry drew his sword and activated his helmet. "I said I was going to introduce my sword to Nazara's brain, and I meant it."

"How are you going to take on that dreadnought by hand?" Garrus asked incredulously.

"Ever heard the expression: 'catching flies with your mouth open'? Consider me the fly and Nazara's gob is _wide_ open." Harry vanished with just the slightest noise, reappearing on the other side of the windows before he took off into the air.

"Are we sure he isn't suicidal?" Kaiden asked.

"I've seen his mind." Shiala said with a scowl. "He is sane by most clinical standards… but after all he has been through, he has grown tired of hiding and being on the defensive."

"So… he is justified?" Garrus asked.

Shiala sighed. "I will put this in terms we can all understand: Whilst I cannot blame him for how he acts… I will still stand back and allow Tali and Ash to beat him later."

Ashley grinned whilst Tali blushed. The others just nodded in understanding.

"There he goes." Wrex said as he watched Harry slip between the mouth like tendrils at the front of the reaper. "Lucky bastard."

"Normandy, what's the situation with the Ascension?" Shepard called over the comm.

"_Commander, this is General Septimus. The Ascension is safely behind the Alliance Fleet. The Normandy is currently working in tandem with the Emissary's ship to eliminate the geth. What is the word on the Reaper? The arms are just beginning to crack open."_

"Saren is down and the Emissary has headed into the Reaper to perform an internal assault. The rest of my team are stuck here. We will work on activating the Cita-"

"Commander! Look!"

As the team readied their weapons Shepard looked towards where Ashley had pointed.

Floating out of Sovereign were heretics and krogan.

"The Runt better be playing around with biotics again or else I'm going to have to have words with him about the definition of a good kill."

"Wrex, to phrase it so you would understand… they aren't worth killing." Shiala said dismissively. "Unlike the Matriarch and myself who were indoctrinated against our will, the krogan willingly joined him. They were willing to wipe out all organic life for the empty promise of a genophage cure."

"Shepard, look at Saren." Liara said as she pointed her weapon at the corpse.

Saren's body was beginning to glow red. The skin and flesh was literally melting away.

What was more disturbing was the fact that the body was climbing unsteadily to its feet.

"I guess this isn't quite over." Shiala sighed as she readied her biotics.

Then the worst thing possible happened.

Saren's bodied turned to them a shuddered. "This body is absolutely disgusting."

Hearing Saren speak with a fairly crisp London accent was not what they were expecting.

"Hello everyone. Tell me, do I look as bad I feel?"

Seeing a robotic Saren smile cheesily was… well, what Tali felt like she did when she first stepped on Rannoch and saw the geth dressed up.

"Harry?" Shepard asked incredulously.

"In the turian flesh!" He joked.

"Actually… you don't have any flesh, just a metal skeleton." Garrus really didn't want to be seeing this.

"Oh… why that copycat!" Harry was outraged. "He copied what the geth did to me!"

"Didn't it take two years for the geth to fix you?" Kaiden pointed out.

"To fix my brain and avoid damaging who I was. The skeleton was easy for them once they scooped out my powdered bones."

Seeing 'Saren' shrug…

"For god's sake Harry what the hell are you doing in that thing?" Shepard demanded. He couldn't take much more of this.

"Oh, well I managed to kick Nazara's arse. He tried to flee his own body to use Saren's. I followed and… well I am kind of in my body, Nazara's _and_ Saren's. It is all very complicated and to be honest… disturbing. I may have to obliviate myself."

"So it's over then?" Kaiden reasoned. "We've won."

"No, I'm reading a lot of heretic ships and they are giving the Alliance a pounding. I am going to take the Reaper beyond the Citadel and destroy as many heretics as I can. Shepard, contact the fleet and have them focus fire on me."

"How are you going to escape?" Tali asked worriedly.

"If I can't teleport to your location I will try and leave before it explodes. Just ask the Stingray to find me.

"One last thing. Please destroy Saren's body thoroughly. I really don't want some idiot trying to experiment on it."

"Harry, shouldn't we try and study Sovereign?" Liara asked. "It could hold untold knowledge of the Reapers and the people they have destroyed before."

"Two words Liara: 'Booby' and 'trap'. I wouldn't trust this thing not to be rigged in someway but I do know that it is capable of indoctrination still."

"Oh… never mind then." She was clearly disappointed.

"Well, I'm off. See you in a bit."

* * *

><p>Wrex and Garrus spent a good fifteen minutes firing rounds into every little piece of Saren's body. Shiala had then used a concentrated warp to destroy it even further before crushing it into a small lump with her biotics.<p>

Meanwhile Harry had taken Sovereign beyond the Citadel and deeper into the nebula. He took out quite a few heretic ships before the Alliance was able to cause enough damage for the ship to detonate. If Harry hadn't been on board to lower the kinetic barriers then they wouldn't have stood a chance.

Shepard had taken control of the Citadel and with the rest of the team he was organising search and rescue whilst Williams was placed in charge of leading C-Sec in hunting down the remaining heretics and krogans.

Harry was left floating in space for nearly four hours until the Stingray was able to track his signal.

He quickly made his way to the Council Chambers where he found Shepard neck deep in coordinating the relief efforts.

There were three very pissed of Council Members standing nearby, clearly unhappy about being sidelined.

"Excuse me, what the hell are you three doing here?" Harry demanded.

"Go away human. We do not have time for you childishness today." Sparatus said dismissively.

"Listen Little Sparrow-"

"The name is Councillor Sparatus." The turian growled. He had looked up the name Harry had used and realised it was an insult based on his species similarities to birds. He was not pleased.

Actually, he had tried to look it up but no computer would recognise he was even there. He was relying on his aides to do his work. Doors didn't even open for him anymore, his accounts had all vanished along with any government record he ever had. He couldn't enter his votes as a council member either. He was having to rely on the generosity of Tevos.

"You, officer, take this human and place him under arrest."

"Belay that order."

Harry turned and was surprised to see not only Septimus but also Benezia and her commandos. Harry wasn't aware they had returned.

"Take them into custody." Benezia ordered sharply.

The commandos darted forward and had the three Council Members on the floor.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tevos demanded.

"The three of you are guilty of endangering the Citadel and all its member races." Benezia said loftily. "You didn't think you could just pretend you weren't responsible? After all that Spectre Shepard and Emissary Potter did to reveal the threat, you ignored them."

"We have immunity!" Valern argued.

"Not anymore you don't." Septimus scowled. "The three of you are being impeached."

"Get them out of here." Benezia sneered.

The three were dragged away, Sparatus was shouting all the way.

"That was unexpected." Harry was mildly surprised. "Deserved… but unexpected."

"It needed to be done." Septimus sighed. "This won't be the end of our troubles though. The three of us are well aware that the Reapers are going to come but our governments will be just as stubborn as those three."

"So the Council will be manned by another three morons." Harry grumbled.

"We have made plans to have some trusted friends appointed to the Council." Benezia said vaguely. "Regrettably we can only achieve this for the asari and turian candidates. The salarian member will be out of our hands."

"The good news is that humanity has made an excellent showing and has earned its place. We have pushed through measures to have humans given a seat on the Council." Septimus smiled. "With the way you and Shepard have been at the forefront of the fight, your opinion will hold a lot of sway."

"I don't know much about politics. At this time I would recommend someone with the ability to fight or stage a battle. Like you said, the Reapers are coming."

"Then that is the recommendation you should make." Benezia said encouragingly.

"You need a fifth member though." Harry mused. "Without a fifth you risk deadlock, right?"

"Where is that mind of yours going?" Septimus wondered with a small smile.

"There is one race that has been a fixture on the Citadel since just after the turians. They may not have provided military might, but they have ensured that the military bodies had the currency to work with."

"The volus." Benezia mused. "Whilst it is a noble idea, it may not be the best time. Provided humanity can provide a representative sympathetic to the fight against the Reapers then we will have the majority."

"That said… the volus are a client race under the turian hierarchy." Septimus pointed out. "Whilst we would be forbidden from influencing them, I do have a greater chance of feeling out the Vol Protectorate and asking them to support us and in return we can fight for them to have a seat."

"Still sounds like buying and selling power." Harry said in disgust.

"Which is why people like us avoid politics." Benezia smiled wryly. "We will proceed along our current path." She decided for them. "Emissary, speak with Shepard and come to a consensus on who you would recommend to hold humanities seat. You have bought us a reprieve for now so we will take the chance to rebuild."

"Thank you both for everything you've done." Harry said sincerely.

Benezia raised an eyebrow but Septimus laughed.

"See, Sha'ira was right. He saves not only you from being a slave but the entire galaxy and yet he thanks _us_."

"Such an… unusual creature." She mused. "We will speak again, Emissary." She said as she turned and left, Septimus nodded to Harry and followed.

As Harry approached the team he began to feel the weight of the day on his shoulders. Fatigued began to kick in.

"Harry, did you know your eyes are glowing?" Garrus asked curiously.

"Oh… it's some sort of side effect from what I stole from Nazara. It started on Virmire, I've been suppressing it since I woke up."

"Why are they beginning to show now?" Liara asked.

"Because I think I actually absorbed power from Nazara and I am too tired to actually do anything about it." Harry sighed.

"Shepard, you and your team are relieved. Stand down and grab some bunk time." Captain Anderson said as he strode up with a bunch of Alliance personnel in tow. "My god! What happened to you?" He asked in shock as he saw Harry's eyes.

"I… long story."

"Tali, Ash, Shiala, get Harry back to the Normandy." Shepard ordered.

"You too Commander." Anderson reminded him. "You've all done an admirable job. Time to let us do ours."

"Come on Shepard." Wrex grinned as he slapped the Commander on the back sending him stumbling forward. "Even a krogan Battlemaster needs his beauty sleep. The females won't be interested in us otherwise."

Shepard tried very hard not to blush as Ashley smirked at him.


	14. Chapter 14

"Does the Captain even _have _experience in politics?" Harry asked the following morning as he and Shepard locked themselves in the Commander's quarters to discuss the human candidate for the Council.

"No, but like you said, we don't need a politician. We need a soldier. A leader." Shepard explained.

"Anything has to be better than Udina." Harry scowled. "Five minutes into the position and we'd be at war with every other species as he insults them."

"He isn't that bad."

"Are we talking about the same man here?" Harry asked.

"Look, the bottom line is that we need someone we can trust. Not just on the Reaper issue but also when it come to things that involve you, like magic, geth and batarians."

"Bugger! The freed slaves, none of them arrived before the invasion, did they?" Harry asked quickly.

"No, but quite a few were on Alliance ships. Those ships were in the rear but there were some pretty close calls." Shepard assured him.

"Thank Merlin." Harry sighed.

The door chime sounded.

"Come in." Shepard called.

The door opened to admit Ashley, Shiala and Tali. None of them looked like they had good news.

"Harry, we've got some bad news." Ashley said softly. "Saphyria and Nelyna… they both died during the initial attack."

Harry paled and he began to sweat.

"Master, breathe." Shiala commanded as she quickly knelt beside him. "You must calm yourself."

"Ash?" Shepard asked as he left Harry in the asari's hands.

"They are sisters. The asari who worked the embassy reception and one of the Consort's acolytes. Harry befriended them."

"He gave them memories from the geth of their mother." Tali said, her voice was wet with sadness. "She died during the uprising."

"He got that close, that quick?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Ashley gave him a sad look. "Harry is like family to us and we haven't even known him a month."

"The receptionist was the first alien he met, wasn't she?" Shepard said as he recalled Harry's first day on the Citadel. "She was the one he filed the complaint for."

"Yeah, he amused her. Asked her questions that no one had bothered to ask before." Ashley smiled with teary eyes.

"I have some things I need to do." Shepard said finally. "Keep Harry here if you need to. Let Chakwas know what has happened to Harry."

"Aye aye Skipper." Ashley said softly. She hated seeing Harry like this. All she really wanted was to get some comfort herself from Shepard.

* * *

><p>Harry had sat at the memorial service for the victims of the Reaper invasion in an almost catatonic state. Ashley and Tali had been on either side. His grief, despite not being overt was almost palpable and Tali couldn't stop herself from taking his hand to try and comfort him.<p>

Harry hadn't even been in this world a month and his friends were dying around him.

Sha'ira had led the ceremony. Harry had spoken with Septimus and both had agreed that no one else would be more suited to comforting those left behind whilst extolling the virtues of the fallen.

The clean up of the Citadel was in full swing. Many of the windows that looked out into space needed repairing. Several areas had been exposed to the vacuum. The bodies of the enemy krogan and heretics were still being found and disposed of.

Even worse was that now and again someone would come across the body of an innocent civilian who had fallen victim to the invasion.

And Harry still had to pull himself together and engage in politics.

"Captain, this galaxy still stands on the precipice of extinction." Septimus warned Anderson as he confronted the man in his office with Benezia, Harry and Shepard. "Already, the turian and asari governments are beginning to try and rationalise this away as a rogue sect of geth. It is only the Emissary's presence and participation in defending the Citadel that has prevented them from declaring _all_ geth as the perpetrators of this atrocity." Septimus was clearly disgusted with his own people.

"Anderson, we need someone who knows the situation and, while you may not be able to act overtly and officially, you will be able to work with the turian and asari representatives to begin to prepare us for the true invasion." Benezia said. She was employing every ounce of her wise, matriarch demeanour.

"I still need to get permission from the Alliance. I'm a soldier, I have orders to follow." Anderson reasoned. "This position will put me in a position of authority over those with a higher rank than I."

"Welcome to my world." Shepard said dryly.

Anderson glared at him but carried on. "I'm not saying I wouldn't do it. I'm just saying that there will be a lot of hoops to jump through to make it work. And that is provided the Alliance will approve my appointment."

"That will not be a problem." Benezia said dismissively. "Whilst humanity saved the day, it was Shepard and the Emissary who risked everything and prevented our destruction. We will make it clear that it is their actions that have garnered humanity a seat on the Council, as such, if the Alliance isn't willing to heed their wisdom then maybe they aren't truly ready for the responsibilities of leading the galaxy."

"Such was the case for the previous administration." Septimus smirked.

The impeachment of the Sparatus, Tevos and Valern was huge news. The key phrases being tossed around by pundits all involved the words: 'leading the galaxy' or 'galactic safety'.

The Alliance knew this and also knew that if they wanted a big part then they would still have to play ball.

"I suppose I can always resign." Anderson nodded.

"You were always complaining about Udina, David. Do you really want someone like him in charge?"

Harry tried to ignore the portrait of his best friend. He just didn't know how to speak to her. She was over a hundred years older than him. She wasn't the girl he used to know.

For Benezia and Septimus they were still trying to come to terms with a sentient painting.

"I agreed to do it." Anderson glared at her. "But for now it is out of my hands. All I can do is wait for the new Council and the Alliance to reach an agree-"

"What is going on?"

Everyone groaned as the door opened to admit the Annoying Udina.

"I received word that you were involved in a political meeting and you didn't bother to inform me." He said angrily.

"Actually, Ambassador, this is a _private_ meeting." Benezia said imperiously.

"I'm more concerned by the fact that he is spying on a high ranking military official." Harry smirked. "Sounds fairly dangerous to me."

"Anderson reports to me." Udina sneered. "If you wanted to talk to him you should have come to me first."

"Donald, old boy, unless you want me to stick you to the wall again, leave." Harry said in his finest Westminster accent.

Which was pretty poor… but got the point across.

"I believe we are done for now." Septimus said quickly. The last thing they needed was for an inter-species incident between the leader of the geth and batarians and the human ambassador.

"Of course, Commander, Captain, Miss Granger, Emissary." Benezia said respectfully before she left with Septimus.

The second they were gone Udina rounded on Anderson and Shepard. "I demand to know what you were discussing."

"It was a personal matter that my friends were helping me with. If you continue to push I will file an official complaint with the new Council and seek sanctions against Earth." Harry glared at him.

"I doubt that will do you any good." Udina smirked. "I have been talking with some friends of mine and they are working to have you arrested as a human who has committed crimes against various species. Including some of the Hegemony."

"Ah, so you are admitting to colluding with batarian terrorists." Harry nodded. "I'll be sure to warn the Council about that too."

"And I will warn the Admiralty board." Anderson glared. "Humanity did not just send three fleets to aid the Free People of Bataria in repatriating millions of former slaves just for you to ruin the close relationship we have with them now."

"And I will be speaking with the Alliance Prime Minister personally."

Udina spun around in fright to see Admiral Steven Hackett standing there with a hard look.

"Your foolishness will end all I have done." Udina spat before storming out.

"Merlin I love to see that man flee in fear." Harry grinned.

"Harry!" Hermione chided.

"Admiral good to see you again." Harry shook Hackett's hand.

"Likewise, Emissary. At ease gentlemen." He added to the two soldiers.

"Just Harry. I do not like titles. So what brings you here to save us all from hot winded politicians?"

"I have a mission that needs handling and I would like you to be involved. I also have a squad of marines who have requested their detachment be assigned to the Normandy." He handed Harry an OSD.

It took Harry a second to download the data and comprehend it. He scowled as he handed the OSD to Shepard and downloaded the data directly to Anderson's desk.

"You're sure about this?"

"We've been picking up chatter from various sources. Everything points to these dead scientists belonging to Cerberus and being party to what happened on Akuze and Edolus." Hackett confirmed.

"I take it your marines are the ones from Edolus?"

"They were very eager to meet you and to get some payback with the people who set them up." Hackett allowed himself a small smirk.

"I followed up with the marines when I was back on Earth." Anderson chimed in. "They are some of the best the Alliance has to offer. Edolus wasn't even a mission they were assigned, they were heading back to Arcturus when they picked up the signal."

"We can handle this." Shepard agreed. "Some closure would be nice." He said as he attempted to suppress the nightmarish memories of Akuze.

"How soon can you leave?"

"Immediately."

"Alright, Anderson and I will accompany you to your ship. I'd like to see her off." Hackett decided as he stood.

"Harry-"

"Hermione, I'm still not ready to sit down and shoot the breeze with you yet, as Ash would say. But here." He placed a podium-mounted console in front of her portrait. "It's encoded to your voice and has a couple of geth in it. You can use it to access the extranet or contact me. Just don't expect me to be very chatty."

* * *

><p>"Admiral on deck!"<p>

The crew was immediately on their feet.

"At ease." Hackett said easily. "Navigator Pressley, has the Marine detachment arrived?"

Pressley snapped to attention. "Sir, yes sir. They are currently setting up bunks in the cargo bay, sir."

"Very good. I want all personnel not currently performing essential duties to assemble in the cargo bay. Including non-military personnel."

"Sir, yes sir."

"After you Commander."

"Yes Admiral." Shepard had no idea what was going on, he just hoped Hackett wanted to congratulate his crew on a job well done.

The crew was soon assembled in formation and at attention.

"Let no one tell you that this crew is anything but the best humanity has to offer." Hackett said slowly as he addressed the crew. "Over the past few weeks you managed to adapt to a change in command coupled with battles and engagements that would have claimed lesser soldiers. On top of that you have worked seamlessly with other races." He indicated the ground team standing nearby.

"All of you should be commended… all of you _will_ be commended. My staff are currently working to update your files and your commendations should be waiting for you when you return.

"It was pointed out to me that this vessel has no Captain."

There were a few frowns at the possible insult to their Commander.

"We intend to rectify that immediately. Commander Shepard, step forward." Hackett barked.

Shepard moved quickly and cleanly to stand at attention.

"We failed to acknowledge your position when we assigned you your own ship. You have risen to the challenges of being a Captain and as such I officially bestow upon you the rank of Captain." As he spoke he removed the commander insignias and replaced them with a captain's.

When it was finished the two men saluted each other.

"Gunnery Chief Williams, step forward. For too long has the name 'Williams' been ridiculed. A rather poorly disguised letter"- he glared at Harry – "was sent to my office pointing out that General Williams, your grandfather, not only saved millions of civilians and servicemen on Shanxi, he did it by sacrificing his pride. Yet he did so in the most honourable way possible.

"I cannot change the opinion of the rest of humanity, but the Alliance can at least do its part to help you do it yourself. I bestow upon you the rank of Operations Chief. I fully expect to replace these with lieutenant's bars in the future."

"Aye sir." Ashley saluted.

"Staff Lieutenant, Kaiden Alenko, step forward. I understand that our friends, the geth have managed to retrofit your biotic amp. We realise that this was a huge act of faith on your part given the risks involved when organics attempt the procedure. Your bravery has opened doors for other L2 users as the geth have sent specialised medical drones designed for the retrofits.

"In recognition of your service I promote you to Lieutenant Commander.

"Williams and Alenko. Once your current mission is complete you will report to The Villa. Good candidates for the N-School are hard to find. I expect that at the very least you will attain a rank of N1."

The two soldiers saluted.

"To our allies and your non-human crewmembers, the Alliance recognises all you have done with us. We are proud to have had this opportunity to stand beside you and offer you a continued place on this vessel. The choice of team is as always, Spectre Shepard's. I know that the Council intends to honour each of you for your heroic actions in the fight against Saren and Sovereign.

"However, there is one last thing that I want you all to witness. Emissary Harry Potter, please step forward." There was a lot less of a command but still a good deal of instruction.

Harry frowned curiously as he moved from his position to the side with the non-human contingent.

"The Emissary has done many things over the past month. Many unbelievable things." Hackett managed not to sound too annoyed or awed. "But there is one thing he did that we cannot ignore. He did, whilst accruing substantial injury, place himself between a downed squad of injured marines and a thresher maw before he took it out in hand to hand combat. If he was a soldier I would have him at The Villa already. But he is not, and that makes what he did all the more important.

"Emissary, the Systems Alliance wishes to bestow upon you our highest honour: The Star of Terra."

Harry wasn't sure what was going on. If he was understanding this right he was being thanked for doing something. He'd never thought of something like this happening to someone like him… thinly disguised house points not withstanding.

He never noticed that his pause was somewhat offensive.

"_ALERT! Recommended course of action follows:…"_

Harry's attention turned to Hackett again as he listened to the geth.

"I am honoured and humbled to receive this recognition." He said with a bow.

Hackett handed the medal to Harry with the box open and facing the crew. "You are hereby recognised as a Hero of Humanity. You have performed feats that go above and beyond the call of duty, and we salute you."

Hackett stepped back and saluted. The crew immediately snapped to attention and followed suit.

* * *

><p>"Master, are you still staring at that?" Shiala asked as she sat in a nearby armchair reading.<p>

"This is the only thing I have ever been given for doing something. I'm just trying to assimilate that knowledge… which isn't easy as the geth keep pointing out things like how much it is worth for various reasons."

The duo was sitting inside a magical tent. Once they had left the Citadel, Harry had realised that the marine detachment was going to take up a fair amount of room in the cargo bay. He and Joker had brought Harry's ship to dock with the Normandy and he had rummaged through the trunks the goblins had filled in Diagon Alley to find a few magical tents.

The marine sergeant had take one look at the well furnished tent and then politely asked Harry if he wouldn't mind clearing all the furniture out as he didn't want his men getting soft.

Harry had just grinned at him and suggested making his men do it. The sergeant loved the idea and had relished in the grumbling of his men as magically enhanced beds and chairs were moved to a spare room in a second tent.

That second tent was now situated in the beams of the cargo bay where Harry usually stayed. A magical ladder had been added by Harry so that anyone other than he and Shiala could reach it without using biotics or apparition.

"Yes, I have suppose I can understand why that might affect you." Shiala responded to Harry's reasoning for staring at his medal. "Even the elite commandos who undertake covert and classified missions are acknowledged by the people they do the work for. Your fellow magicals would have a lot to answer for; only the Hegemony would make a child do such work." She said in disgust.

"Well, many of the magicals did support slavery." Harry sighed as he sat back.

"Harry, you're eyes are glowing red again." She frowned.

"I've figured out it only happens when I am tired or possess something." Harry shrugged. "Or use a power unique to Reapers. They don't glow when I use prothean abilities."

With all the information from the prothean beacon on Virmire and what Harry had taken from Nazara, he was still discovering new abilities. New methods for using mass effect fields, eezo and magic.

He was beginning to understand why the ability to use magic had been eroded.

Harry had absorbed more than just information on the Reapers and Protheans; he also knew about the creators of the Reapers: the Leviathans.

When the Reapers began their 'harvest' they did so in part to absorb any advancements and talents the victim races had developed. Magic would be something they would have harvested this time round. But there were also other abilities such as Quantum Entanglement Communications (QEC).

For the Reapers, they had machines, devices and programs. But they learned it all from the Leviathans who had an organic ability to use QEC.

The Reaper code that Harry had absorbed was virulent and far too active for the geth to completely contain, especially as the close connections between the remains of Harry's organic brain and his synthetic brain had resulted in the machine code being turned into an organic equivalent: genetic code.

Harry had already been trying to cope with the prothean ability to absorb information from an object via psychometry but now he was dealing with the fact that he had a permanent, undetectable and un-hackable connection to the geth via an organic QEC.

Joker had raised an alarm when he could no longer detect where Harry was based on his open channel to the geth. A quick explanation from Harry had resulted in him being marched down to the medical bay where Chakwas had broken out everything she had to find out what was happening whilst Ash, Shiala and Tali stood guard.

The rest of the team had sat in the mess hall watching with amusement through the windows.

"_Shepard to all ground teams, we have reached the Newton System. Gear up."_

"Are you going to be ok to go into battle?" Shiala asked as she stood.

"I'm fine. Most of these changes are happening in the background." Harry said as he joined her at the entrance to the tent and apparated them both down.

Despite Shiala's insistence that it got easier each time, none of the others were willing to test it.

"You said most, Harry. That means some will _not_ be in the background. Those are the ones I am worried about."

"Worried about what?" Ashley demanded as she joined them at the lockers.

"The changes Harry is going through."

"Do you even count as human anymore?" Garrus asked as he checked his sniper rifle.

"Still say the Runt is part krogan." Wrex chuckled.

"My DNA is mostly human, even though much of my body is synthetic." Harry explained as He shucked his trousers and pulled on his armoured greaves. It had been a huge shock to him and Liara the first time Kaiden and Ash had stripped down to their underwear to put on their armour.

"But the code isn't so much as rewriting my genetics to make me part prothean or leviathan, it is more that it is altering and evolving my DNA to incorporate the necessary organs and structures that allow me to make use of things like QEC."

"Captain on deck!" The Marine Sergeant shouted as his men snapped to attention.

"At ease." Shepard said casually. He wasn't going to turn down the slice of military respect and style. He needed that relief from dealing with his team.

Especially Harry.

"Scans indicate several guard towers around the base. Reconnaissance shows that they report on a fixed schedule. We have recordings of them reporting in so we will take them out silently and we will infiltrate this base covertly.

"I do not want to get caught in a fire fight. If possible, take the scientists alive. We need more information on Cerberus."

"Garrus and Ash, we will drop you north of the base before dropping Mikhail and Donovan to the southeast. Harry and I will take the sniping position to the southwest and we will take out the guards in one action."

Mikhail and Donovan were a sniper team from the Marine detachment.

"Any questions? Then load up and get on board."

"_Captain, this is team two, we've got eyes on the guard towers and we can confirm that the targets are all down, judging by the blood they are dead."_

"Roger that Chief. Team three is on the ground and heading to position. Team one is about to hit the ground. We'll wait until all teams are able to confirm status before we make a move." Shepard responded as he headed to Stingray's airlock. "Alenko, the Stingray is yours."

"Hey! You can't just go giving away my stuff!"

"It means he has command, Harry."

"Oh… ignore me then." Harry blushed as he saw the marines trying not to laugh.

Shepard sighed as he jumped out of the ship and scanned the area whilst Harry joined him.

Once the three teams were in place they were able to confirm that all the guards and sentries were down.

"Everybody rendezvous at the entrance to the base." Shepard ordered over the comms.

Ten minutes later and everyone except Kaiden, Tali and Liara were on the ground. The other three would hang back and provide air support and back up as needed.

"Sergeant, you and your men have the lead. Sweep and clear but remember we want prisoners."

"Yes sir." The Sergeant saluted before barking out orders to his men.

The ground team followed the marines at a distance, only approaching as they declared each zone safe. Wrex was getting pretty antsy with nothing to kill.

What was worse was that the base was littered with dead scientists; they were dead long before Shepard and co. arrived.

"Everyone hold up, I'm getting two life signs in the following room." Harry informed them.

"Can you identify the species?" Shepard asked.

"Human… and I can do you one better." Harry stared straight ahead as his eyes lit up and a holographic image of a man in marine armour and a scientist appeared as he hacked the room's security feeds.

"Holy shit!"

"Stow it Private." The Sergeant snapped quietly.

"Creeps me out too." Harry shrugged as the images hovered in front of his face.

"Damn… is that… Harry, can you run a facial recognition on that soldier? I think his name is Corporal Toombs. He was with me on Akuze."

"I can confirm that Captain." One of the Marines said quietly. "During our recovery I looked up what happened on Akuze. I remember his face. Photographic memory." He explained at their inquisitive looks.

"I've got an eighty percent match, the twenty percent difference is due to a lot of facial scarring." Harry reported.

"Captain, he looks ready to blow." Ashley said as she readied her weapon.

The soldier had a gun on the scientist and his hand was shaking badly.

"Marines, I'll go in first. I want to try and talk him down." Shepard ordered.

"Sir, with all due respect-"

"I know Sergeant, but we owe it to the Corporal to try."

"I've got you covered." Harry said as he activated his helmet and cloaked.

"God I want one of those."

"Private, I am going to set up a latrine on ship just for you to clean." The Sergeant glared.

"Sorry Sergeant."

"All of you hold back. Harry and I will handle this." Shepard ordered as he moved towards the door.

He knew Harry was in front of him when the door opened without him touching the panel. Harry's cloak had been upgraded with knowledge from Nazara so that he was completely invisible with no tells.

"Toombs! Stand down, that's an order, soldier." Shepard barked warningly. He walked in without his weapon drawn, trusting Harry completely.

The two men jumped at the new arrival.

"Help me! He's insane!" The scientist begged.

"Toombs, I told you to stand down. This is now an Alliance matter."

"Sh… Shepard? Why are you here?"

"You think the Alliance wouldn't find out that their men were being captured and experimented on by a rogue terrorist group? I'm here to find them and bring them in."

"B-Bring them in?" Toombs asked incredulously "Why? So they can give him a nice cushy room with free meals and extranet access?"

"So we can find out who he works for and get the people in charge!"

"He'll tell me! I'll find the people in charge and then I will make them _pay_ for what they did to me!"

"And that's what this all comes down to? You? What about the rest of their victims? What about me?"

"You? You survived and were free! What did you really suffer?" Toombs scoffed.

"Captain… permission to shoot this piss-poor excuse for a marine?"

At this point Toombs noticed the marines in the corridor with their guns pointed at him and looks of disgust.

"Those men are also victims of Cerberus and their experiments with thresher maws." Shepard continued, ignoring the Sergeant's request. "Are you so damned selfish that you will deny them justice?"

"I- I- " Toombs looked like he might back down… but then he proved he lacked enough brain cells qualify for even the marines. "How do I know you aren't just playing me to get me to back down?" He demanded.

Shepard sighed. "Deal with him Harry."

***THWACK***

***THUD***

Toombs went flying across the room to land harshly against the far wall. Toombs' weapon was floating in the air for a few seconds before Harry de-cloaked with it in his hand.

"Thank god." The scientist breathed.

"You're welcome Doctor." Harry smiled as he held out his hand.

Hesitantly the doctor shook it, thinking it might be a trick.

"You have to understand, I'm just a simple chemist. I have no idea what that poor man was talking about. I believe he might be suffering from some form of PTSD." The Scientist tried to bluff his way out.

"Oh I understand, I really do." Harry said as he patted the man on the back and led him to Shepard. "Let me introduce you to Captain John Shepard. He was on Akuze, I believe you were involved with his own PTSD back then. And these fine gentlemen are from the 3rd Frontier Division. They were on Edolus and would very much like to discuss their own issues with PTSD with you." He said as he led the scientist over to the men with the guns and bloodthirsty grins.

"B-b-b-"

"Don't worry Doc, these men will be happy to help you deal with any lingering PTSD issues of your own." Harry assured him as he was led away by four of the marines.

"What about Toombs?" Ashley asked quietly once the doctor was gone.

"Hopefully he actually does have PTSD and he can be honourably discharged on medical grounds." Shepard said sadly. "But that isn't for us to decide. Harry, can you do that marble thing on him? If he isn't mentally culpable then I don't want him suffering more than he has to. If he is… then I don't want to have to ask a fellow marine to watch a former comrade like that."

Harry didn't say a word as he waved his hand before summoning the marble to him.

He walked over to Shepard and handed to him. "I say this with all seriousness, if you want his physical form restored, just add water."

"As in-"

"Pour water over the marble." Harry shrugged. "It was a spell developed by my father and his friends apparently. He wanted to surprise my mother and this spell was involved. I stopped reading my mother's journal at that point." He blushed.

Shepard failed to smother a snort. "Why don't you go and check the computers." He said, trying desperately not to laugh.

Harry's shoulders slumped in resignation as he headed over to the nearby terminal.

"You shouldn't be laughing Skipper." Ashley chided as she tried to smother her own smile. "You know Harry lost his parents and that's why he read the journals."

"I can't help it." Shepard laughed. "It's just-"

"Mount up people we have to move now!" Harry barked as he jogged back to them. "We've got several Alliance locations under possible rachni attack."

"Rachni?" Wrex asked as Harry stormed passed.

"Somehow Cerberus got a hold of some rachni eggs from the queen on Noveria. They decided to test them out on pirates before moving up to Alliance Marines." Harry scowled as they walked.

"Locations Harry." Shepard demanded.

"Styx Theta, the Erebus and Acheron systems."

"We can't handle both of those at once." Ashley pointed out.

"My recommendation is to have the marines go on the Normandy to Acheron. The rest of us can take my ship to Erebus. I've got both ships waiting outside for us." Harry said.

"Kaiden, are you there?"

"_Go ahead Captain."_

"Take Command of the Normandy and take the marine detachment to Acheron in the Styx Theta cluster. We've got marines being attacked by rachni. Joker will have the details. The rest of the team will be with me dealing with a similar problem in the Erebus system."

"_Understood. Both ships are here. We'll load up the Stingray and head out as soon as the marines are on board."_

"Shepard out. Double time people." Shepard barked as they started running.

* * *

><p>"Shepard, you and the Runt take me to the nicest places." Wrex grinned as he took in the waves of rachni descending on the Alliance listening post.<p>

"Just make sure this doesn't wind up being the last place I take you." Shepard said wryly.

"Everybody prepare to jump." Harry instructed.

"Harry, we have organic bones." Ashley reminded him.

"And I have ridiculously overpowered biotics." He retorted. "I can easily carry us all and it is the quickest way down… unless you want to use the drop chute."

"I really don't see the difference." Garrus frowned.

"The drop chute actually fires you out of the bottom of the ship." Harry explained.

"This is better." He said quickly.

"3… 2… 1… jump!"

It was a testimony to the faith they had in each other that they barely hesitated to follow the young man as he jumped out of the ship backwards.

It was clear why he went backwards as he paid close attention to where the rest of the team where before managing to gather them in a mass effect field.

There was very little in the way of jarring as they landed from a height of more than one hundred metres.

As soon as they were on the ground the team joined the marines at the barricades and cover they had and assisted in firing at the oncoming hoard.

"I don't know who the hell you are sir, but I am damned glad to see you." A lieutenant said from next to Shepard as she continued to fire.

"Captain Shepard, Alliance Navy and Council Spectre. We discovered intel that a terrorist organisation had unleashed these rachni on you and came as soon as we could." Shepard said as he used his sniper rifle to pick off the rachni further back with Garrus as everyone else focused on those closest.

"Spectre? Didn't know we actually had one of those."

"I'm the first."

"EVERYONE HIT THE DECK!" Harry roared.

"Shit!" Shepard grabbed the lieutenant and the private on either side of him and dragged them to the floor as Harry's ship made a low sweeping pass whilst firing rapidly at large groups of rachni.

As the ship flew off over the hills the team and the soldiers warily stood up.

"All clear!" Harry called out.

"Shit, is your pilot insane, sir?" The lieutenant asked.

"Yes." Shepard said seriously.

"Better insane than dead." The private muttered.

"Everybody patch yourselves up, restock your thermal clips and get some food and rest. It won't be long before the next wave." The lieutenant ordered.

She then turned to Shepard and saluted. "1st Lieutenant Marie Durand, acting commander of the 14th Regiment, 3rd Brigade. We are damned glad to see you, sir."

"You've done a good job Lieutenant. I take it your commander hasn't survived?"

"No sir, he went down in the first wave saving some of the men." She said proudly.

Shepard gave an approving nod. "He will be remembered and honoured. As will you for keeping your men alive this long."

"Shepard, we can evacuate the Marines and quarantine the planet." Harry said as he walked up.

"We need to eliminate the rachni." Wrex argued as the team joined them.

"No, these are feral rachni, very little intelligence. One of the reasons Cerberus dropped them on this planet was because there were no resources for them to consume. They will all be dead in about two years from starvation."

"Better than risking more people." Garrus reasoned.

"Call in your ship, Harry." Shepard decided. "Lieutenant, gather your men and any intelligence. Don't bother bringing anything else though. We'll get you back to Arcturus for recovery."

"Sir, yes sir." She saluted and quickly moved off, barking orders as she went.

"Any word on the Normandy?" Ashley asked.

"They found some survivors holed up in the base but the rachni have a feral queen. The planet is rich with food. Our only option is to wipe out the planet." Harry reported.

"The whole planet?" Ashley was shocked.

"They've spread too far to track them all down." Harry said sadly.

"I can contact Matriarch Benezia and she can speak with the rest of the interim council. They can send a ship that can deal with it." Shiala offered. "This won't be the first time a planet had to be glassed due to the rachni." She looked to Wrex who just nodded.

"Not the way a krogan prefers to do something, but even we aren't foolish enough to fight a lost cause." He agreed. "The turians used to glass planets that were too far gone."

"Alright. Is there anything else we need to worry about or can we get these soldiers home?" Shepard asked.

"There was a Cerberus space station where these things came from." Harry nodded. "The geth went to it but it seems they are victims of their own evil. The rachni had broken free and killed them all. They managed to download a lot of information on Cerberus before they destroyed the station.

"Other than that, we are done."

"Then lets get moving before the next wave approaches."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Just so you don't keep wondering; this story will end just after ME3. It will be posted in this fic and not a separate one so you won't have to go searching. The next few chapters are the interim between ME1 and ME2... Until then Harry has some promises to keep and people to piss off.

For those of you wondering about magicals being able to live long lives and not being around... no magic, no longevity. Plus, it has been nearly two hundred years since Harry made his trip to the geth. Dumbledore was about 110. The oldest person I can think of (not using a philosopher's stone) would be Griselda Marchbanks. She may only have been 140 odd though and she appeared to be an anomaly in the HP world.

You'll get more details on the lack of magic later in the story. (Of course some of you are going to be pissed... because you can't please everyone.)

As for Harry being 'god-like'. He is a throwback to a different era. He was born into a war and lived a life of hardship. He has a great deal of biotic powers but only because he is magical. (For arguments on magicals vs biotics see later chapters.)

His powers are tempered by his own mental issues. He is still working through the the stages of grief. He has passed denial and is struggling with anger and bargaining. Both of those stages will throw people off the deep end. I have plenty of personal and professional experience with this.

That said, I will admit that the scene where Harry froze the Council Chambers was missing a crucial factor: Some of those Spectres had to have had shields and biotics. Harry would have had to have handled those separately as biotics can be halted by both. For now... let's just say the Spectres were overly arrogant and self-assured... or use your imagination.

For now, we have quarians, slaves, the genophage and other stuff to deal with...

* * *

><p>Harry hadn't gone back with the rest of the crew to the Normandy. Instead he had asked Shiala and Tali to come with him as he and the geth wanted Tali to finally take her mask off and breathe the air of her home world… unfiltered.<p>

They had said temporary goodbyes to the team and crew and wished Ashley and Kaiden good luck as they headed off to N-School before getting on Harry's ship and heading to the Perseus Veil.

"Tali? Are you ok?" Harry asked over the radio.

Tali was currently in the airlock changing out of her armour and into casual clothes the geth had provided from Rannoch.

Unfortunately it had been three hundred years since a quarian wore anything other than their special suits and the most prominent examples of clothing available for the geth were the images on advertisements and clothes displayed in shop windows.

"_Are you playing another joke on me, Harry?" _She demanded irritably over the comms.

"No… why would you ask that?"

"_Because this thing you gave me is more complicated than a mass effect relay."_ They could hear her scowling.

"Tali, I'm coming to help you." Shiala tried not to laugh. "Harry, go hide round the corner and don't peak." She ordered.

"Have I _ever_ shown any indication of being a pervert?" Harry glared.

"Go!" She said as she smothered a smile.

"'Loyal servant' my bloody arse." Harry muttered to himself as he moved.

Shiala vanished into the airlock seconds later.

"_Goddess!"_

"What? Is something wrong?" Harry asked worriedly.

"_N-No, it's just been so long since anyone saw a quarian, I had forgotten what they looked like. I only saw them once or twice as a child but the quarians rival the asari for beauty."_ She was clearly in awe.

"They are a good looking bunch." Harry nodded. He'd seen plenty of quarian images around Rannoch and in the geth files.

"_Goddess bless you and keep you."_ He heard the fondness in Shiala's voice for the young woman.

Even Wrex had taken a shine to the young waif. Despite her initial moodiness when Harry was around she was a spitfire in battle and could hold her own in a conversation with any of the crew… except Shepard who she seemed intimidated by and in awe of and Chakwas who mothered her.

Shiala left the airlock and joined Harry. This was a private moment for the first quarian to step foot on Rannoch in three hundred years without a suit.

The geth admitted that other quarians had tried to land but the geth had killed them out of fear. Without a mediator like Harry, they would never have approached another organic.

"What was wrong with the clothes?" Harry asked.

"Let's just say that armour slots together. Whatever you chose is a beautiful piece, but they are rarely designed to be easy to put on."

"I didn't pick it. The geth did."

"They have good taste."

"_Are you going to join me?"_ They heard Tali shouting happily.

The pair smiled as Harry grabbed Shiala and apparated them out of the ship.

"Bugger." Harry swore.

It was literally tipping it down with rain.

They weren't in the city or the airport, Harry had landed them at a beautiful vista. Canyons and rivers.

The ground was now wet and muddy. It was nothing like the images the geth had.

"Now I know why we need windows on a ship." He grumbled.

"I do not believe Tali objects." Shiala smiled.

Several feet away Tali'Zorah was dancing in the mud and rain with her lavender skinned face uplifted and beaming as her long tangled hair hung soaked down her back.

The watery pink dress she was wearing was made with a very light material.

Harry quickly turned away.

It was a _very_ light material.

"I'll be on the ship." He said quickly before apparating away.

Shiala laughed.

"Where's Harry?" Tali asked.

"He decided to protect your modesty." She said with a smirk as she indicated the very see through patches on her dress.

"Keelah! How much did he see?" She asked as her skin darkened and she covered herself with her hands.

"He caught a glimpse, realised what had happened and left." She assured the young woman.

The airlock opened and the geth shock trooper descended the ramp holding a package.

It wordlessly handed it to Tali, who was hiding herself behind Shiala, before heading back inside.

There was a long coat and a long stick wrapped in some sort of material with lots of thin metal struts and a button on a wooden carved handle.

"What is this?" Shiala wondered as she took it from Tali and examined it.

She pushed the button and the material flared out with a snap being pulled taut by the metal struts.

"How weird." Tali mused. "I assume this is meant to protect me from Harry." She glared at the ship as she put the long coat on.

"You can come out now." Shiala laughed over the comm.

There was no noise whatsoever as Harry apparated to them.

"What is this?" Shiala held up the strange device.

"It's an umbrella." Harry took it and held it over his head. "It keeps the rain off of you."

"Why would you want to do that?" Tali asked. "This is wonderful!" She said as she danced back out in to the falling water.

"Quarians are weird." Harry muttered.

"Harry, this is the first time she has felt anything on her skin besides her suit. Do you really think she will pass up the opportunity to touch _everything_ she comes across."

"Bloody hell! This place is like a death trap for her!"

"Why?"

"This planet is like any other, poisonous plants and animals, it's only the insects that are missing."

"Won't the nanites protect her?"

"Sure, but she'll still be bitten and stung."

Shiala put her arm around his shoulders. "It's all part of the learning experience, Master."

As he always did, he grimaced at the title she gave him. "Head on to the ship. It will take you to the medical facility. The salarians are in the holding cells for the geth to reverse the indoctrination. Whilst they are doing that they will work on reversing what the Thorian did to you."

"That's not necessary." She assured him.

"Fine, you can tell me the same thing then when you have an actual choice." Harry smirked. "Now follow my orders. I'll bring Tali back later."

Shiala grumbled to herself as she headed to the ship.

"Where are they going?" Tali asked as the ship lifted off.

She was still grinning happily and still looked like a pale lavender drowned rat.

But she was still very beautiful, he had to admit.

"The salarians need dealing with and I want the geth to try and undo what the Thorian did to Shiala."

"How will we get back?"

Harry just grinned evilly and she shuddered.

"Shiala did say it got easier."

"Meaning it starts off bad." She glared at him.

"Go enjoy your planet." Harry shooed her away.

"Isn't there more to see? You've shown me the city and this place, but what about beaches, fields, mountains, snow?" She grinned. She had a beautiful face with pointed elfin like ears that just peaked out of her ragged hair.

Harry grabbed her and apparated away out of the rain leaving the conjured umbrella to roll in the mud and eventually dispel.

* * *

><p>They arrived in a small house. Looking outside the window Tali could see what looked like a barn and farmland bathed in sunlight.<p>

"Where are we?" She asked.

Harry tried not to snort at the sight of the drenched woman. He cast a few charms on her to dry her off and fix her hair. He knew how sensitive women could be about that sort of thing… if they actually had hair that is.

"Welcome to the Zorah farm."

"Zorah? Farm?" She asked excitedly.

"This is your families home. From before the Morning War. The geth don't know how your family became so high in the quarian ranks but you used to be farmers."

"Are there animals? Did we grow crops?" She asked as she headed for the door with a huge smile.

"The lands have been maintained along with the crops and herds." Harry said as he followed. "Even with no quarians to serve, the geth still had their initial instructions to follow. The domestic geth continued to do their jobs. Which is why the cities are still running."

"Did… did my family have geth… domestic geth?" She asked with no small amount of shame.

"Several."

"Did they survive?"

"They are out there now, doing their duties." Harry nodded.

"Can we meet them?"

"Sure, we'll have to wait about two minutes though." Harry said wryly.

"Why?"

"Because I am geth and what one geth knows all geth know. So when they heard you wanted to meet them they started running towards the house." He said as he leaned against the side of the house. "Here they come."

There were four red platforms pelting towards the house and causing a dust trail to rise up behind them. They came to a sudden stop in front of the prodigal quarian.

"The Creator has returned. Welcome." They said as one.

Tali swallowed nervously. "I… I want to apologise… for any part I played in the war. I now understand we were wrong to try and kill you. We… tried to commit genocide, just like the Reapers did."

One of the platforms stepped forward. "Creator Tali has learnt great wisdom. We note one important difference between quarians and Reapers: Quarians did not understand geth and acted in fear. Reapers understand organics and act in hatred.

"The geth wish for unity with organics. We wish to learn and grow."

"I promise to help." She swore solemnly.

"Does Creator Tali have questions?"

"Erm… well, how come you can talk? Most geth can't." She asked curiously.

"Creator Tali has only encountered combat models. Speech was unnecessary. Domestic units are required to respond to organics. Speech is an efficient way to do so."

"Oh, so all domestic models can talk?"

"Yes, but all combat models are being refitted with speech algorithms and proper vocal units." Harry spoke up. "The geth want to protect organics so they are going to keep producing combat units, but now they will be designed for more than just killing."

"Do you have names or designations?"

"This platform has been designated 'Mad Hatter'."

"This platform has been designated 'Cheshire'."

"This platform has been designated 'White Rabbit'."

"This platform has been designated 'March Hare'."

Tali slowly turned to glare at Harry who was grinning widely. "And by any chance were you ordered to refer to me as 'Alice'?" She asked dangerously.

"The designation was discussed but ultimately rejected. It was deemed: A joke too far."

Tali's head snapped back to the platforms. "What?"

"Potter Emissary suggested that humour would be an appropriate organic emotion to learn. He insisted that we learn the boundaries of jokes and what is appropriate and what is not. Whilst we agreed that emulating the human tale of Alice in Wonderland was acceptable humour, assigning you the permanent designation 'Alice' was not appropriate for your position."

"You're teaching them jokes?" She turned back to Harry.

"They want to understand emotions." Harry continued to grin. "They have more than enough information to determine what sadness, anger and loss is, but I can safely teach them humour. The quarians will teach them happiness."

"We will?"

"When the quarians willingly return to Rannoch they will begin to gather the appropriate data for happiness and they will finally have labels to apply to their experiences and their reactions. That is what emotions really are, reactions to experience."

"You aren't going to teach them about romance, are you?" She asked worriedly.

"I am _not_ qualified." He snorted. "I'll leave that to Ash and John."

"Why do you call him John?" She asked suddenly. "You only do it sparingly and I've only seen you do it during tense moments."

Harry sighed as he considered his response. "First of all, I call him John because it is his name and he is my friend. I have a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with authority figures. I've even been one before."

"Emissary Potter is currently the primary authority for both geth and batarians." Mad Hatter added.

Harry nodded. He was glad they were interacting freely and spontaneously. He didn't want them just speaking when spoken to.

"I guess I am. But my point is that he is always with people that call him 'Shepard' or 'Captain' or 'Spectre'. Even Ash only calls him 'Shepard' or 'Skipper'. I am just trying to make sure he understands that… despite my youth, I am his friend, his peer and his equal. He doesn't have to maintain his Captain-y persona around me in private."

"Has he ever let his guard down around you?" Tali asked curiously as she sat on the ground next to Harry, their backs against the wall of the house.

"Do you not remember him making jokes at my expense?" Harry smiled wryly.

"Creator Tali, the procedure on Shiala has encountered problems. We require Potter Emissary's assistance." Mad Hatter suddenly spoke up.

"Is it bad? Is she ok?" She asked worriedly.

"She is fine for now. They are just having trouble finding the programming that makes her loyal and obedient to me." Harry said as he stood up. "You can come with me if you want or you can stay here and talk some more with the boys."

"I'll come with you." She said as she joined him. "Just a second." She stepped back from his outstretched hand and turned to the geth. "This land, the building, the animals… do you still consider it my property?" She asked curiously.

"Affirmative." Mad Hatter stated. "This land and all associated items and livestock are registered property of the Zorah family at the quarian government."

"Good. Then I want to give it to you four as a gift. You can do what you want with it. Keep it, upgrade it, sell it, repurpose it… consider it a gift from my family and now yours. If you want the Zorah family to keep using the home then we will do so happily and with thanks, but it belongs to you now."

The geth froze in place as their lights dimmed.

Tali was suddenly very worried as she attempted to scan them with her omni-tool only to remember it was with her armour.

"Harry, what happened?" She asked. She turned to see Harry was also standing there frozen. "Harry?" She shook him gently.

"Huh? Sorry, you managed to confuse the geth." He blinked as he realised he had been caught in a session with the geth that actually took up most of his brainpower.

"Are they ok?" She asked with concern.

"We are fine Creator Tali." Cheshire stepped forward. Whilst Cheshire and the others had begun to move and their lights had brightened, Mad Hatter was still a little dim. "Your act was new to the geth. We are aware of the concept of gifts but have never participated in those customs. We had no stored response. We looked to the Emissary for his experience and wisdom but he too was lacking the experience."

"What!?" Tali was horrified.

"I've received gifts… but… nothing like this." Harry shrugged. "I didn't have much of a childhood remember?"

"We have assigned the problem to the unit designated Mad Hatter. We do not believe that a solution will be found without the Emissary's input.

"At this time, the only response we have is to say: Thank you.

"Unfortunately we do not have the experience to understand the action of receiving a gift. As soon as we have one we will develop an appropriate response."

Tali frowned. "The 'thank you' is more than enough. But I will ask the crew to help Harry understand these things so he can help you."

"Thank you Creator Tali." Cheshire said.

"Come on Tali, we're needed in the city." Harry said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and vanished.

* * *

><p>"Fine, I'll admit that it is getting easier." Tali grumbled as she only stumbled slightly. She rubbed her chest firmly between her breasts as she tried to quell the much lighter feeling of nausea.<p>

Harry flushed at the attention she was calling to parts of her anatomy and quickly walked ahead.

"Do you know what the problem with Shiala is?" Tali asked as she quickly caught up.

"Other than the fact that the geth can't find the right chemicals and neurons that should be affected, no."

"She is missing part of her brain?" Tali asked horrified.

"Oh no." Harry assured her. "But the parts that should have been altered aren't."

"So she hasn't really been forced to be your slave?"

"It depends on your definition of slave I guess." Harry said as they reached a door. "We'll have to find out."

They entered the room to find Shiala sitting in a chair. Tali's skin paled as she saw the asari's head cartilage had been cut away and pulled back to reveal her brain.

"Master." She greeted Harry calmly as though her brain wasn't bare for all to see.

"Shiala, have the geth told you the problem?" He asked seriously.

"They have kept me informed throughout the whole procedure. I don't know why they can't find the affected areas but I cannot say I am bothered by this."

"I'm sorry… I have to-" Tali ran from the room looking decidedly queasy.

"Some one go and help her please. Most organics don't like seeing the insides of other organics. Remember my response to seeing my own rebuilding." Harry told the platforms in the room pointedly.

A white platform calmly exited the room.

Harry turned back to Shiala. "Is it possible that you haven't been altered by the Thorian?"

"You ordered me to undergo this procedure. I wanted to object very much but your order compelled me." She admitted.

"Would you consider yourself a proud woman?" Harry asked.

"I try to avoid arrogance." She said, she clearly was having trouble understanding what Harry was asking.

"No, I mean do you… do you value your freedom. Your ability to decide the course of your own life?"

"Of course. I chose to be a commando instead of a stripper or dancer, I was very young when I married."

Harry looked at the platforms subtly. "What if I were to order you to be a sex slave to Sparatus?"

"I would be disgusted." She shuddered. "I have no desire to do such a thing."

"I order you to be Sparatus' sex slave." Harry said firmly.

"Master, please!"

"It's ok, I rescind my order. I promise to never make you do anything you don't want to." He soothed. "I needed to elicit a response. I needed you to fight the programming so we could see what part of your brain reacted." He explained.

"I understand Master, but please don't do it again. Even the thought of having to leave you was… painful." She was almost in tears.

"I swear." Harry said solemnly. "But I do have bad news about the programming. The Thorian appears to be more than a powerful plant based life form. It seems to have used magic to enforce its will."

"As in your magic?" She asked, her previous distress quickly fading as Harry gently rubbed the back of her hand.

"It is a similar energy signature to what I produce and what magical artefacts emit. But it means that the only person who can reverse it is the Thorian."

"That is fine." She said in relief. "I don't know if it is the Thorian's conditioning, but I am happy with my life and my duties. I have no desire to change things." She saw that Harry didn't like this one bit. "I promise I will tell you if my desires change, but for now you have bigger issues to deal with, like reuniting the quarians and the geth, defeating the Reapers, ensuring the stability of the batarian government… and so much more.

"I have a few more decades at least before I reach the Matron stage." She assured him.

Harry sighed as he nodded to the platforms who began healing her head.

"Now go and check on Tali. I will join you soon."

"I swear you give me orders more than I give you orders." Harry grumbled as he walked off.

Tali had managed not to throw up. Apparently it wasn't the sight that was the problem but the smell. She wasn't in her suit so she didn't have any air filters.

She had encountered her first rank odour… hospitals.

Harry could sympathise.

* * *

><p>"Lieutenant Imness, how are you feeling?" Harry asked as he sat down at the table in a private room at the hospital.<p>

"Fit. Fit and sane. The voices are gone." The salarian admitted.

"Good. The rest of your men are showing signs of recovery but the worst ones will need more time to regain their old selves." Harry informed him. "Will the salarian government or STG be able to help them?"

"Yes, yes. Our lives are too short to waste. We take family and health very seriously." Imness assured him.

"Good, we can take you straight to any location you want or you can get us clearance to. The Citadel, Sur'kesh, anywhere."

"Appreciated. Am I… senior ranking officer here?" He asked hesitantly.

"On Rannoch you are, but if you are asking about Captain Kirrahe and the others then they all survived. Well, they survived Virmire." Harry amended. "I don't know what happened to them during the battle on the Citadel."

"Battle on the Citadel?" Imness asked with wide eyes.

"Saren made it off of Virmire and managed to invade the Citadel. A lot of civilians died." Harry scowled at the memory of his asari friends. "You can access the extranet on the terminal over there."

Imness nodded, still slightly awed that the Citadel was attacked.

"Did… did we win?"

"I personally rammed my sword through his head and then organised the destruction of his dreadnought." Harry promised. "Is there anything you need, any questions?" Harry asked.

"Can I check on my men?"

"Sure, you aren't restricted to this room, or a prisoner. All the rooms on this level are occupied by your people. You are just the most mentally healthy."

"How did you manage to tame the geth?" Imness asked. So far all he had seen were unarmed geth.

"I didn't." Harry smiled. "The geth you have been fighting are a separate sect who disagree with the rest of the geth. They are called Heretics."

"Like… salarians working for Eclipse." He reasoned.

"Exactly."

"It may be best not to have them interact with my men. If they are as-"

"Don't worry, I've worked it so that your men don't even realise they are dealing with geth. They just see regular mechs."

"You brainwashed them?" Imness began to get angry.

"Easy." Harry said warningly. "I haven't altered their brains. The geth did so to fix the indoctrination but that is all. What I did was generate a special energy field around the geth platforms that makes it hard to tell what they really are. Your men are still mentally fragile so they will see what they want to see."

"Such a thing is possible?"

"Use the extranet. You can read all about me." Harry sighed. "You can also use it to contact your government and arrange pick up or authorisation for us to drop you off. We can leave whenever you are ready."

* * *

><p>"Harry, why did the geth take my blood?" Tali asked as she came running up behind him in the hospital corridor. She was wearing a different dress today. This one was a light summer dress based on human designs. It was something Ashley had suggested based on her general body shape, the military woman was the oldest of four sisters and was an expert at dressing girls up.<p>

In truth, Tali liked to have as much bare skin as possible to feel the air around her. She also enjoyed the swish of the material against her legs.

She was literally in paradise.

Robots with needles not withstanding.

"Nelyna pointed out to me that your people won't be accepting of anything from the geth… especially little robots they have to inject.

"It's taken you over a month of solid contact with the geth to be comfortable enough be around them without armour and weapons. You are definitely going to be an exception.

"Do you honestly think that you will be able to convince your people to accept an escape from suits if it comes in the form of nanites programmed by the geth?"

"I have been trying to decide how to approach the subject with my father." She admitted. "If I even mention that I have geth nanites in my blood I will be locked up and experimented on."

"Which is why the geth are using your current bio-data to compare with your previous data so they can see if they can develop a chemical solution."

"But then they won't be protected from poisons and healed from damage." She argued.

"In time the quarian people might be willing to move up to nanites, but for now, we need to start small."

"I suppose this means I can't return to the Flotilla yet." She sighed.

"Sure you can. You just can't tell them you are free from your suit."

"I suppose I could go to the Admiralty Board and tell them about my time with you and Shepard. Everybody knows you are the Emissary of the Geth."

"If I could I would ask Shiala to go with you. She isn't human, quarian or geth so she would be a fairly neutral party, and respected as an asari." Harry said.

"Why can't she come?"

"We did some testing and she really didn't like the thought of being sent away from me. It seems like she is stuck with me for a while."

"But she was able to be away from you to do other things."

"Well, we can ask. I just won't order." Harry decided.

* * *

><p>A few days later and Lieutenant Imness had arranged for clearance for Harry's ship to take them to Sur'kesh. Harry also had a large crate to deliver to Wrex who had returned to Tuchanka.<p>

Shiala seemed to have no problem leaving Harry to do things for him like accompanying Tali to the Flotilla. She didn't like the idea of not being with Harry to protect him but the geth had developed some new platform designs so they could be with him.

'Lefty', the geth trooper who had lost his hand on Therum now had two new hands. Each with four fingers and a thumb. He was to be a prototype model to test the five digit design over the three digit quarian design.

Shiala had teased Harry by saying it was cute that the geth were trying to be like their big brother.

Lefty had also been given a vocal upgrade to enable him to communicate with others.

They arrived at Sur'kesh days later.

"Emissary, it has been a most interesting experience. But my men and I are most grateful for your help as I am sure our government and families are too. My men are already beginning to show signs of their former selves and may even return to active duty. If that is the case then I look forward to working with you again one day." Lieutenant Imness saluted.

Harry returned the saluted and offered his hand.

"I wonder if they would have been so genial if they knew you had a cure to the genophage onboard?" Shiala mused with a smile as they headed towards the nearest mass effect relay.

"They would have sent everything they had at us." Harry shrugged.

"Here." She handed him an OSD.

"'Black Ship', 'The Marauder', 'Dog Star', 'Tiger-Lilly'… what are these?" Harry asked.

"Suggestions for the name of your ship. I have been reading your parent's journals and picking out various names they used. These are all suitable names for a ship."

"I'm surprised you didn't have the school houses on here."

"They held meaning, but not a meaning for you personally."

"Maybe." Harry shrugged. "Well, some of these won't be suitable simply because they imply something, like 'Black Ship', not a very inviting name. 'The Marauder' sounds like a pirate vessel and as the representative of the batarians I need to avoid that sort of connection. 'Dog Star' has potential but 'Tiger-Lilly' is a bit too personal.

"I'll have a look at the others and try and make a decision." He promised. "For now, lets just focus on getting this cure to Tuchanka."


	16. Chapter 16

"Runt! Just how insane are you?" Wrex bellowed as Harry, Shiala and Tali walked towards what could barely pass as a throne room. "You took the cure for my people to the salarian home world?"

"They never knew I had it." Harry shrugged as they stepped aside for Lefty to put the large crate he was carrying down.

"Well, you're here and the cure is safe. That's all that matters I suppose." Wrex grumbled.

"Thanks." Tali said sarcastically.

"Girl, what are you still doing in that suit? I thought Harry fixed you?" Wrex demanded. "It's been nearly three hundred years since the galaxy saw a quarian. Just like the asari, all the races found you beautiful. I feel insulted that you are keeping your face from me." He grinned.

"We have to keep it low key for now, Wrex." Harry explained. "If the quarians knew _how_ she was cured she would be in a lot of trouble."

"From other quarians?" Wrex asked in disbelief. "For all their engineering brilliance, they always were a short-sighted bunch." He snorted.

Beyond the ruins of the throne room, other krogan were milling around. Some were acting as guards, some were talking and others were cleaning weapons.

"Urdnot Wrex, the geth have a request." Lefty spoke up.

"Since when can you talk? Or have five fingers?" Wrex asked as he recognised the platform that Harry had dubbed 'Lefty'. Mainly because Harry had drawn a large white 'L' on it's chest.

"A speech unit was installed on this platform to facilitate interaction with organics."

"Better than shoving a computer in your brain." Wrex agreed. "Make your request."

"Krogans are warriors. But Tuchanka shows evidence of art and culture. We offer to rebuild Tuchanka's landmarks and cities."

"This place…" Wrex said softly. "Before the nuclear winter … it was majestic. It could easily put Thessia to shame. I've only seen images and they were lost when the turians bombed the planet.

"Tell me, geth, what do you get out of this?" He demanded.

"Wrex, remember how I told you the geth want to learn? So far the geth only have humans and quarians as examples of culture. They want their own and so they want to learn about as many cultures as possible." Harry explained.

"So you want to land an army of geth on my planet?"

"A single drop ship would be sufficient." Lefty promised. "Repair times will increase with more platforms."

"Start small, Lefty." Harry smiled. "No need to make it obvious you are invading."

"Watch it Runt, someone might take you seriously." Wrex grinned dangerously.

"What do you say Wrex, are you ready to make Tuchanka shine again?" Harry asked.

"Considering I just took back control of Clan Urdnot, it would be good to have something to show for it. Lefty's friends can come and play in the dirt if they want." Wrex said in an exaggerated generous manner.

"How kind of you." Harry grinned. "So, where are the sirens of Tuchanka? Need to get them dosed up on the baby juice!" Harry said as he patted the crate.

"That's really the cure?" Wrex asked reverently.

"Well, it's not a cure as such, it's more of a loophole. It will piss the salarians and turians off though when they find out." Harry waggled his eyebrows.

Wrex gave a barking laugh. "Good enough for me Runt. Let's go."

"We'll take it from here Wrex."

Tali reached for her weapon and Shiala charged her biotics as four krogan entered the throne room with guns. The other krogans looked up with interest.

"Uvenk." Wrex sneered.

"You should have stayed away from Tuchanka. You gave up your right to lead Clan Urdnot. Besides, Gatatog will be the clan that rules Tuchanka. All the other clans will flock to us when they learn we have the cure to the genophage."

"_I_ have the cure to the genophage." Harry said in an annoyed tone.

"Silence human." One of the other krogan barked as it raised its gun to smash Harry on the head.

Harry just stood there as the gun bounced away off his forehead. There was a gash but it was quickly healing.

"Pathetic." Harry sneered. "Let me show you how to really hit someone!" He stepped forward quickly and threw an uppercut that sent the larger being sailing away over the rubble.

The other krogan were staring at him in shock.

"Who else wants to challenge me?" Harry glared at the remaining three.

"Who are you?" Uvenk asked.

"That is Battlemaster Potter." Wrex grinned. "He took out a thresher maw with his hands. He defeated hordes of geth heretics with just his sword and he eliminated a whole nest of rachni with just his biotic singularity. He is the only one capable of taking me on."

"A human? What sort of trick is this? Humans are weak, like the rest of the aliens." Uvenk argued.

"The crime for theft is death, yes?" Harry asked Wrex.

"And the punishment is delivered by the target." Wrex agreed.

"Then I claim justice." Harry said as he drew his sword and placed the tip in the dirt.

"What are you doing? You may be strong but it will take more than a piece of metal to…" Uvenk gulped as he saw the ground hiss and steam beneath the sword.

"In the words of my people… put up or shut up." Harry grinned as he channelled Ashley during one of the poker matches she had invited him to.

He was subsequently banned due to his synthetic brain making it hard to bluff him and allowing him to track the cards.

"Get him!" Uvenk shouted angrily.

It would have been more impressive if he hadn't croaked a little during the delivery.

"Do nothing!" Wrex ordered Harry's three companions and the rest of the krogans.

Shiala reluctantly held a very angry Tali back.

Harry swung his blade from the position pointing down to straight up as he split the front of Uvenk in two, like a hot dog bun.

He didn't stop as he held out the sword as far as he could and spun on the spot, the blade slicing through the necks of the other two krogan who fell down on top of their leader… dead.

"Gatatog Uvenk committed crimes against Battlemaster Potter." Wrex declared to the assembling krogans. "Clan Gatatog will pay for their chief's treachery. They answer to Chief Potter."

"He is no krogan!" One of the older looking males shouted.

"He has passed the rite. He took down a thresher maw on his own. No Krantt!" Wrex shouted. "Even _I_ had a Krantt. He has earned the right to a clan, to property and to a mate.

"Now he has all three." He gave Tali a grin. The quarian was clearly blushing and glaring beneath her mask. Harry was just confused.

"Beyond all that, Battlemaster Potter has created a true cure for the genophage! No female will ever bury a child that never breathed." He said passionately.

There was a lot of rumbling.

"Lies! The turians would never allow it!"

"Who is that idiot?" Harry asked.

"Chief Weyrloc Guld." Wrex grumbled. "He's probably the biggest threat to me… but only because you just took out Uvenk." He added with a smirk.

"You just saw me kill Uvenk for trying to steal from me. Do you really want to face me? Clan Gatatog recognises Chief Urdnot Wrex as Overlord. I would be happy to take Clan Weyrloc off your hands." He offered.

"Uvenk was a fool. He underestimated his enemy. I have been around as long as Wrex. I do not recognise him as Overlord and I _do_ challenge you. My Krantt against yours." Guld sneered.

"Fine. Let's make this quick. I still need to meet the females and deliver the cure and I have things to do that are far more important than killing you!" Harry said. He turned to Wrex. "Where do we do this?"

"The arena. We will do this when the sun rises. I want Clan Gatatog and Clan Weyrloc to witness their new Chief in action." Wrex ordered loudly. "Come on Runt, we don't have to wait to see the females."

* * *

><p>"What am I supposed to do with this?" A veiled female asked imperiously as she eyed the large pill Harry had handed her.<p>

"Swallow it. The nanites will be released in your stomach where they will make their way to your reproductive systems and prepare for a foetus… they won't be supplying that." Harry said as he flushed red.

The female raised an eyebrow at him.

She wordlessly slipped her hand beneath her veil and swallowed the pill.

"How long will it take to work?"

"Give it twenty four hours and they should all be in place."

"It seems… unseemly to have little creatures crawling inside of me." She shuddered her large frame.

"Consider it a small sacrifice to see your children breathe life." Harry said firmly.

"A small sacrifice indeed." She nodded. "We shall not forget the acts of Chief Gatatog Potter and the geth."

"Ah… heard about that have you?" Harry winced.

"We are secluded from males but not from information." She smirked. "We shall be watching the fall of Chief Weyrloc Guld from here." She indicated the currently inactive displays around the room.

* * *

><p>Wrex was laughing riotously as he looked around the massive stadium. The thousands of krogan that had gathered to witness a human take on a clan chief were currently floating helplessly above their seats.<p>

The only reason Wrex wasn't floating was because he still had Harry's dampener.

In the arena Harry was cringing as Tali laid into him. She apparently didn't approve of his tactics. He knew the girl would be good for the Runt.

Eventually Shiala pulled Tali away and hugged Tali's helmeted head to her ample bosom and crooned to her softly. Wrex laughed harder.

"The fight is over Guld. Do you yield?" Harry asked loudly. His voice carried easily through the large arena due to audio pick ups.

"I will never yield! I will- I- Dammit! Stand where I can face you!" Guld shouted angrily as he rotated helplessly in the air.

"How about you two?" He asked Guld's Krantt. "Will you submit to me as the Chief of Clan Weyrloc?"

"Guld is the true chief! We will never follow a scrawny pink thing." One of them scowled.

The other nodded, but his heart didn't really seem in it.

"Fine." Harry held out his hand and out of the ground several metal spikes with razor sharp tips emerged. Harry cast a finite and the biotic lift he had cast vanished as everyone crashed to the ground.

Guld and his Krantt slammed into the spikes that easily passed through their inactive armour and emerged out their backs.

It was a potentially lethal blow… but it was unlikely they would die due to their redundant organs.

It was still bloody painful though.

The humiliation was worse for the krogan.

"I claim victory!" Harry shouted loudly to Wrex.

"You haven't delivered the killing blow." Wrex said pointedly as he strode heavily from the royal box to the arena floor.

Harry didn't even bother looking as he tossed a disdainful wave over his shoulder. "They have no name, no clan… they aren't true krogan… they aren't worth killing."

There was loud murmuring through the crowds.

"SILENCE!" Wrex bellowed.

Much better than Dumbledore's cannon blast.

"Chief Potter is right. They made their choices. It is his right to decide their fate. Leave the creatures there. If they are actually krogan then they will lift themselves off the spikes and try and make something of themselves.

"Although… what will you do if they come after you again?" Wrex turned to Harry.

"I will bring them back to Tuchanka and I will impale them again. And I will do so each time."

Harry turned and faced the arena crowds. "I am Harry Potter, Chief of Clan Weyrloc and Clan Gatatog. I am Emissary of the Geth and the Free People of Bataria. Amongst my clans: My word is law! Amongst the krogan we all answer to Overlord Urdnot Wrex. In my absence he will lead my clans.

"But woe betide he calls me back to deal with any insolence because I will do more than _that_ to fools." He pointed at the three impaled krogans.

* * *

><p>"It won't be long before the salarians realise our children aren't being born dead." Wrex mused seriously as he stood with his fellow Normandy alumni at the bottom of the ramp to Harry's ship.<p>

"The krogan aren't considered a Citadel race. Just like the batarians and geth. Any attempt at ensuring krogan children die would be considered an act of war." Harry offered.

"You've seen this place?" Wrex scoffed. "We're still fighting amongst ourselves. We would never survive a conflict with the salarians and turians again."

"The geth will defend allies from acts that endanger their free will." Lefty stated.

"Wrex, I know all about the history of the krogans, how they turned this planet into a nuclear wasteland long before the salarians found them.

"I also know how the salarians interfered in your natural cultural development. You were used as slaves even though you didn't realise it. Once they were done with you they tossed you aside.

"Now, I'm not saying that the krogan weren't at fault. They took planets that were already claimed and turned on the Council races. This is where you come in. You need to become Overlord and you _need_ to teach your people to be better than they were.

"I'll warn you now, the geth can reproduce as fast as the krogan and if we need to step in to protect other races from krogans, we will." Harry stated calmly and without malice.

"If there were other krogan here I'd have to kill you Runt." Wrex grumbled unhappily.

"No one but us can hear what we say. I cast a little spell." Harry smiled.

"Still, it's a tall order. It could be centuries before I have full control."

"You have nominal control of my clans." Harry reminded him. "Assign one clan as the law enforcement for krogans. They are the ones that will put a stop to any treachery against you. Send them out to deal with any krogan who is causing problems in the universe.

"Assign the other clan to ensuring that when the Reapers, salarians or turians come to Tuchanka… that they realise that the krogans are prepared."

"Defence and peacekeepers." Shiala mused. "I am not familiar with the structure of your original culture but it would be a good place to start developing a new more stable culture."

"Don't call them peacekeepers!" Harry gasped. "The worst thing you can do for a krogan is give a name or title with the word 'peace' in it."

Wrex shuddered.

"Look, just think about it." Harry said. "We all know the Reapers are coming and the last thing I want is for the krogan to be caught unawares."

"I'll work on it, Runt. I want a shot at those bastards for what they were doing to krogan on Virmire." Wrex growled.

"We'll see you later. Remember to call me if the clans get uppity." Harry grinned.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think?" Harry asked as he showed the two females the ship that had pulled up alongside them. They were currently parked near a mass relay station.<p>

"It looks like an asari frigate." Shiala frowned.

"If I gave you anything that looked like it had been near the geth then the quarians would probably shoot you on sight." Harry nodded. "This ship will be registered in your name, Shiala but the both of you can consider it yours. Unfortunately if I gave it straight to Tali they might try and demand it as your pilgrimage gift." He scowled.

"It does feel like I should be coming home with something." Tali said worriedly.

"You are bringing them a cure to the suit dependency and a personal invite to peace and Rannoch. If that isn't enough then they aren't worth your time." Shiala said dismissively.

"So this is really it? We won't be seeing each other again?" Tali asked sadly.

"I thought we were friends." Harry said a little hurt.

"We are!"

"Then why can't we still meet up? Why can't you come with me and Shepard when we deal with the Reapers?" Harry argued.

"That's if the Admiralty will let me come." She said hesitantly.

"I know for a fact that Chief Adams would be pissed if Shepard didn't put in a special request to have you back on board. I know the Captain will want you back on the team. It will be bad enough without Wrex."

"I will make it clear that you are a pivotal member of the team." Shiala assured her.

"What will you do now?" Tali asked, still a bit sad.

"We'll be going to the Citadel. The Normandy will be returning there in a week or so and I wanted to spend some time with people like Sparatus, Benezia and Sha'ira."

Tali scowled at the name of the Consort.

Her light purple skin took on a darker hue and she seemed to shake indecisively on the spot.

Harry was shocked when the lithe quarian leapt at him and pressed her soft lips against his passionately.

Both Harry and the geth had mentally stalled.

Lefty was literally stuck in mid-step.

Shiala was crowing triumphantly in her head.

After several seconds Tali broke away breathlessly. She looked him in the eye with a glare. "We _will_ be together again soon and we will be picking up from here." She informed him.

"Er… erm…"

"Just nod and say 'Yes Ma'am'." Shiala instructed with a grin.

"Yes Ma'am." Harry said in a daze.

Shiala grabbed the younger girl and dragged her to the airlock as Lefty's foot finally reached the floor.

"Potter Emissary, that event caused the near loss of two geth dropships. We will need warning before Creator Tali performs that action again." Lefty reported.

"Again?" Harry was still dazed.

Unknown to Harry, Lefty and the rest of the geth had sent a video to Chakwas to ask for advice on how to handle Harry's current mental issues.

Lefty walked up to Harry and slapped him on the back of his head.

"BLOODY HELL!" Harry shouted as he rubbed his now sore skull.

"We apologise. Doctor Chakwas informed us that this was the best procedure to restore your full mental functionality. It appears to be quite effective."

Harry just growled. "Tell the Doctor that this had better fall under patient/doctor confidentiality."

* * *

><p>Harry had just reached the relay that would take him to the Citadel when a distress call came through.<p>

"_May Day! May Day! This is the SSV Normandy. We are under attack from an unknown ship. We have suffered severe hull breaches and have lost engines. We are abandoning ship."_

"Shit!" Harry swore as he did something he really didn't want to.

He had all of the knowledge of the Reapers and the leviathans.

He not only knew how to build a mass a relay but how to reprogram one.

It didn't take him long to interface with the mass relay via his new biological QEC and program it to send him to the mass relay nearest the Normandy.

He was in the Omega System within seconds and he could see the large enemy ship moving away from a rapidly disintegrating Normandy.

"Search for life pods and life signs." Harry ordered the ship.

"_Fifteen life-pods detected and one other life sign."_

"One other?"

Harry immediately had the information. He headed for the drop chute as he activated his helmet.

"Get me in close and fire me at him."

"_Warning-"_

"I know!" Harry snapped angrily. He then looked at Lefty sadly. "Just come and find us."

Seconds later Harry came shooting out of the bottom of the ship on a direct course for the body being pulled towards the surface of the planet Acheron.

Harry knew the impact with Shepard would be harsh but there wasn't much choice. He attempted to lessen it with a mass effect field but it was still jarring.

He knew that Shepard wouldn't survive the impact with the planet's surface.

Most of him would burn up in atmosphere and only a leg or so would hit the surface.

He smashed into the body and immediately cast a bubblehead charm on the Captain to stop the loss of oxygen due to ruptured air lines.

He then manoeuvred himself so he was behind Shepard and cast a sticking charm that would keep them together.

His last act was to stun his friend and comrade to save him from living through what was to come.

Now he just had to pour on the mass effect field and hope it would soften the impact.

Harry knew it wouldn't be enough as he could already feel his suit burning away behind him. The pain from the heat was unbearable but he just kept channelling the power.

The crew of the Normandy watched helplessly. Their Captain, their leader and their inspiration was not only plummeting to his doom in what could only be a terrifying and painful manner… but their friend and a young man they respected as much as the Captain, had selflessly fired himself into space in what was clearly a vain attempt to rescue him.

They could see the mass effect field and the body of the young man protecting their Captain from the deadly forces of re-entry.

But the crew of the Normandy were educated and experienced men and women.

They knew it was futile.

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you talking about?" Wrex demanded angrily of the geth platform standing in his throne room.<p>

"The SSV Normandy SR-1 was attacked by an unknown ship. Shepard John Captain was exposed to space. Potter Emissary exited his ship and caught the Captain but was unable to prevent their descent to the planet.

"The Emissary's body was nearly completely destroyed. His brain and skeletal system remained intact due to extra shielding.

"We will be able to rebuild his flesh.

"Shepard Captain was protected by Potter Emissary. He suffered a complete skeletal failure. His organs were badly damaged but we are attempting to repair him as we repaired Potter Emissary after his arrival on Rannoch."

"Stupid vorcha brained- what of the girl… Have you told Tali and Shiala yet?" He demanded.

"Creator Tali and Shiala Commando have both boarded the Flotilla. We are unable to contact them at this time."

"Get me a ship. Now!" He barked at a nearby krogan. "Listen up you wretches!" He bellowed at what would be considered his court. "I have to leave the planet for a few days. Do _not_ think this gives you the right to start something behind my back. If I find you haven't been doing what I told you… well, Chief Potter is still human… I'm sure I can convince him to let _me_ hand out the punishment." He grinned evilly.

* * *

><p>Lefty's landing on the planet Acheron left a lot to be desired.<p>

An errant piece of the Normandy had entered his descent vector and caused serious damage to his torso.

It had also sent him ten miles off course.

He had sprinted as fast as his systems would allow before he reached the main crash site.

Finding the Emissary and Captain was not difficult as the Emissary was still emitting the mass effect field subconsciously. He set up the beacon and waited for Harry's ship to come in close.

In the meantime he set about repairing his damaged torso.

* * *

><p>"This is Urdnot Wrex, Overlord of Tuchanka. I need to speak with Tali'Zorah and Shiala. It's urgent."<p>

"_Please state the nature of your business." _Came the accented male reply.

"Private. Personal. _Urgent_. Business." Wrex bit out.

"_Tali'Zorah is currently in quarantine. She is unavailable."_

"Then send the damned asari. I don't care if I have to talk to her through a piece of glass just let me talk to her!" Wrex roared.

"_All defence systems are targeting your vessel. Leave or we will fire."_

"Listen very carefully boy." Wrex said dangerously. "I am the Overlord of Tuchanka. Every damned krogan in the galaxy follows my orders. We wiped out the rachni, we defeated the turians and the salarians and the asari. Either you let me go about my… _peaceable_ business or I will have the krogan horde descend on you." Wrex felt sick having to use a word with 'peace' in it.

There was a long silence.

"_You may dock. No weapons will be allowed."_

"Don't need weapons to deal with a few suit rats." Wrex muttered as he closed the connection and turned to his crew. "Stay on the ship. We won't be here any longer than it takes. I want to be back on Tuchanka within three days."

* * *

><p>Harry's ship couldn't just head to the Citadel as they wouldn't be able to get clearance to dock. Instead they liaised with Admiral Hackett and headed for the SSV Hawking, an Alliance Carrier.<p>

The crew was quickly taken into medical care, the geth platforms lending aid in carrying crewmembers on their own stretchers.

The ship didn't stay docked as it was needed back at Acheron to retrieve Harry and Shepard.

"Let them go." Chakwas shouted as the deck hands started shouting orders to stop the ship. "They are headed back to find more survivors."

"The reports I received say that the Normandy was exposed to space." Captain Marius frowned as he approached.

"Emissary Potter left his ship to try and save the Captain. Admiral Hackett will tell you that when Harry is involved, you don't assume anything." She said firmly.

"Get these people to the med bay!" Marius barked, he wasn't going to try arguing.

* * *

><p>"You've got a funny definition of quarantine boy." Wrex glared at the quarian who had brought him to Tali and Shiala.<p>

The two women were sitting in a barred cell.

"Wrex?" Shiala asked in surprise.

"Why are you in here?" Wrex demanded.

"They claim we might be infected by geth because we spent so much time around them." Shiala said sarcastically. "Strangely they haven't examined us or put us in a sterile room and more importantly they haven't allowed me to contact Thessia."

Wrex picked the quarian up by the throat and held him up at eye level. "Go and get your precious admirals. Tell them that they have less than an hour before they have gone too far and declared war on the Citadel, the geth, the batarians _and_ the krogan." He growled.

He dropped the quarian who landed on his butt and scooted away frightened.

Wrex just grunted in annoyance before he turned and easily bent the bars far enough that they snapped. "Sit down girls." He instructed.

"What is it? What happened?" Shiala asked.

"The Normandy was attacked." He said without pre-amble. "Unknown vessel. The Runt caught the distress call and headed in. Shepard was spaced in his suit and pulled towards the planet. The Runt left his ship and chased after him."

"But… Harry can survive re-entry." Tali said as she began to shake. "He would have shielded Shepard."

"The… _'boys'-"_ He said cryptically. "-say he was going three times faster than normal for re-entry. He also wasn't in the right position for his suit to hold up under re-entry. They are going to need a lot of time to repair the both of them."

"But they are both alive." Shiala said as she pulled Tali into a hug.

"You really think a little thing like re-entry is going to stop either of those two?" Wrex snorted. "The _boys_ say it will be at least six months before Harry is up. His entire body was reduced to his skeleton. His brain only survived thanks to his metal skull.

"Shepard will take a lot longer. They can fit him with a skeleton like Harry… but… they need to do his brain as well."

"What about the rest of the crew?" Shiala asked.

Wrex handed her an OSD.

"Goddess." She gasped as she saw the number of dead. "Have the others been told?"

"The humans will take care of that." Wrex assured them.

"Why are you here krogan?"

Wrex turned to see two quarians standing there. "I came to tell my friends that our comrades were badly injured. They will need to head to human space so they can help."

"They are under arrest for conspiring with the geth." The quarian sneered.

"This is Captain Keena." Tali sneered. "He won't even let us contact the Admiralty."

"He's breaking the fleet laws?" Wrex asked with a dangerous grin.

"And breaching Citadel diplomatic laws." Shiala added.

Wrex stood up and calmly walked over to the quarian who just stared at him defiantly.

"You have no rights here kr-"

***THUMP***

***THUD***

Keena fell to the floor in a heap from Wrex's head butt.

"If you aren't being held legally then it's not illegal to leave." Wrex grinned at the girls. Then he frowned. "I've been spending too much time around the Runt. I'm thinking too much."

"Let's get to our ship and leave. I want to get to Harry." Tali said impatiently.

"I'll come with you. You can drop me off at my ship before you go." Wrex said as he followed.

"You aren't going to come see Harry or the crew?" Tali asked.

"I can't leave Tuchanka alone for too long or some whelp might get ideas." Wrex said tiredly.

It didn't take long for them to reach the ship. With Captain Keena and his guard unconscious there was no one to raise an alarm.

"What they hell have they done to my ship?!" Shiala shouted angrily, gaining the attention of the quarian work crews.

Unlike Harry, Shiala had taken no time to name the ship 'Tiger-Lilly'. She didn't care if it was part of what the Thorian had done to her, she cared greatly for her master and was proud to name it after his mother.

Unfortunately, the geth-created asari frigate replica was in pieces.

The cannons had been removed and dismantled, the sensor arrays where strewn across workbenches and part of the hull had been removed.

"She was beautiful." Tali said mournfully.

Tali was right about the ship having been beautiful. Like everything else asari, it was elegantly made.

But most importantly, it was a gift from someone close to them.

Shiala fell to her knees in distress and Tali hugged her friend's head to her stomach.

"Girl, are there enough escape pods on this ship for all of the crew?" Wrex asked with a growl.

He understood how the girls might feel. It would be the same as if the salarians tried to take away the nanites cure Harry had given his people.

"Yes, safety is paramount on Flotilla ships." She said woodenly.

Wrex began moving quickly and picking up quarians and tossing them at the corridor they had just come through.

"You've got ten minutes to clear the ship before I blow it." Wrex roared angrily. "You destroyed their ship so we are going to destroy yours."

It took him one minute to clear the hanger.

Mainly because the rest of the quarians were smart enough not to try and tangle with an enraged krogan.

"Tali, seal the door and find out how many are still on the ship." Wrex ordered as he grabbed Shiala by the arm and hauled her to her feet. "You aren't any use to your precious master down there girl." He snapped.

"_ALERT! ALERT! DECOMPRESSION ON ALL DECKS! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"_ Came a loud announcement over the sound system.

"Did that sound li-"

"_Hello? Can you three hear me?"_

"Runt? Is that you?" Wrex asked as he looked up and around at the ship.

"_In the flesh! Or binary bits."_ He amended. _"The geth on Tuchanka kept us up to date and I've hacked the Flotilla network to take control of this ship. Wrex was right, they stole your ship so we will steal theirs."_

"Harry, the fleet barely has enough ships as it is." Tali argued.

"_Then this will be a good incentive to work towards peace. Besides, I've got plenty of time on my hands and I've come up-"_

***BOOM***

"Harry?"

"_Wasn't me."_ Harry sounded worried. _"Shoot! There are ships firing on the flotilla. Hold on boys and girls, I'm about to use a cruiser as a frigate."_

"Oh goddess." Shiala groaned.

"Did the rest of the crew get off the ship?" Tali asked.

"_Yes, I'm currently trying-" _***BOOM*** "_Dammit! I'm trying to keep the attention of the ships away from them."_

"Who is attacking?" Shiala asked as Tali opened the doors and they headed for the bridge.

_"Cerberus."_

"Bosh'tets!" Tali swore as she began to sprint.

"Harry, what is my ship doing?" Wrex asked as he followed.

"_What krogans do best. Attempting to board the largest cruiser and take the fight to them."_

"I knew I'd miss all the fun." Wrex grumbled.

They quickly reached the bridge only to see two geth dreadnoughts emerge from the nearby mass relay and begin pounding on the Cerberus ships.

"_Wrex, grab some gear. We'll take a few of the frigates and leave them for the quarians. But I'm still taking this ship and the Cerberus Cruiser."_ Harry told them.

"_Oh… hold on."_ Harry said as he realised something.

They watched as the Cerberus Cruiser powered down and the airlocks opened.

Bodies began flying out.

"Runt! I'm a Battlemaster! I'm used to winning at any cost but this is just… wrong!" Wrex roared.

"They didn't even stand a chance." Tali gasped as she looked around at the frigates that were also powered down.

The cruiser began to power up and their own appropriated quarian ship began heading to the relay behind it.

"_- Bastan, come in! Do you read us?"_

The urgency in the radio message was clear.

"Should we answer?" Tali asked.

"They need to know why we are taking their ship." Shiala nodded. "Otherwise they will continue their stupidity."

"This is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya on board the Bastan. We read you."

"_What is going on out there? Have you been boarded? We are reading multiple life pods. Why are you following the enemy cruiser?"_ The voice demanded.

"The captain of the Bastan attempted to hold myself and Miss Zorah prisoner. He made no charges. He stole my ship and had it dismantled. In payment for my damaged ship I have commandeered this vessel. You may pick up your people when we have left and you can keep the Cerberus frigates.

"If you wish to speak with Miss Zorah or raise a complaint you may do so at the Citadel through the Batarian/Geth embassy. If you want to provide a defence for your Captain Keena then you may contact my government, the Asari Republic." Shiala informed them calmly.

"_This is Admiral Rael'Zorah. Tali, what is going on?"_

"Father?"

"_Yes, do you know who was behind this attack?"_ Rael asked calmly.

"A terrorist group named Cerberus. We don't know why they targeted the Flotilla. They have been causing a lot of problems for the humans recently."

There was a long pause. _"You know I cannot just let you steal that ship."_

"She is not stealing it. _I_ am claiming it as compensation." Shiala said forcefully. "I have already told you who to contact if you wish to negotiate an alternative payment for the damage to my own ship."


	17. Chapter 17

Once they passed through the relay, Wrex boarded his own ship and promised to keep in touch via the geth. Tali and Shiala began heading towards the fifth fleet to where Harry's ship had taken the Normandy survivors.

It took them two days to arrive, a total of four days had passed since the Normandy's destruction.

By this point the crew had been moved to the SSV Orizaba under the care of one Captain Hannah Shepard, John Shepard's mother.

Due to the size of the quarian cruiser they had to use a shuttle to get to the Orizaba where they were met by Captain Shepard (The prettier one).

"Good to finally meet you." Hannah said formerly. "Wish it was under better circumstances."

The three shook hands before Hannah led them into the ship.

"Your crew members are doing fine, physically. Mentally might be a problem for a while as most of them saw some one spaced right next to them and _all_ of them saw my son go down as the Emissary tried to save him." She said tightly.

"Harry."

"Excuse me?" Hannah asked the young quarian in surprise.

"Harry wouldn't want the mother of his friend using titles. He hates them. Call him Harry." Tali said quietly.

Hannah looked at Shiala who gave a single, solemn nod.

"If propriety allows." She allowed tiredly. "I don't suppose you have anymore word on my son?"

"_Consider him comatose."_ Came Harry's voice as Tali's omni-tool lit up.

"Harry? Are you _in_ my omni-tool?" Tali demanded dangerously.

"_I wanted to check on the crew too, you know."_ Harry whined. _"There aren't any geth platforms for me to use so I am forced to use a suitable terminal. It would be pretty rude to just hi-jack an Alliance one. They are our allies and friends."_

"But it's fine to use my omni-tool?" She glared.

"_Hold on… almost got it… and there!_ Well hello there, I'm Harry Potter."

Hovering just above Tali's wrist was a foot tall projection of Harry Potter in his armour. The colour was perfect, as was the clarity. It was nearly impossible to tell it was a hologram.

"Harry, why can my omni-tool do this?"

Harry's image looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Your body is filled with millions of nanites. You didn't think they would keep you safe _just_ from bugs and the like? They also maintain your armour and, tools and weapons."

"A warning would be nice." She grumbled.

"Excuse me, are you saying you are actually _the_ Harry Potter?" Hannah asked.

"Yes. And I am sorry I was unable to pull John away from the planet."

"I thought you were badly injured?"

"I am. My body is going to be out of commission for around six months. It's mainly just flesh damage, a few of my bones need replacing… but the good news is my brain was well and truly protected!" He grinned. "Which means I can still communicate with you lot."

"What about her son, Harry." Shiala prodded.

"Oh… ah." Harry said slowly. "Alright… good news first. Enough of his brain was intact that the geth can fix him up like me. By the time they are finished he'll have most of the same body specs as me."

"Which means…?" Hannah asked.

"Erm… near indestructible bones, a mainly synthetic brain… but only for processing, none of the personality or memory centres will be touched. Oh! We are going to make him a biotic!" Harry said excitedly.

"'Make him'?" Shiala asked.

"Well, his brain will have a slot for an amp and adding the nodes to his body will be easy. It seems a no brainer to not give him everything we can."

"Anything else?"

"We'll give him the ability to link with the geth but we won't turn it on. He can play with it if he wants. The geth have said he will always be welcome."

"And the bad news?" Hannah asked as she braced herself.

"It will be nearly two years before he is up and around. He lost ninety percent of his skin and flesh. All his limbs were burnt away… he was a bigger mess than me when I landed on Rannoch. The work on the brain will take a long time.

"But don't worry, he didn't feel a thing." Harry promised. "The first thing I did when I reached him in space was knock him out."

"And _who_ knocked _you_ out Harry?" Shiala growled.

"The pain?" Harry said sheepishly.

"You were awake during the descent?" Hannah asked in horror.

"Not for all of it. I was out of it by the time we hit the planet."

Hannah was pale as a sheet. "Your fellow crew members are through there. If you will excuse me I need to make some calls."

The two alien females watched the human woman walk off stiffly.

"There's nothing we can do for her at the moment." Shiala said softly as she gently guided Tali into a rec room filled with familiar faces.

"Tali!"

"Chief Adams!"

"Girl, you don't know how glad we were you were off ship." The older man said in relief as the young quarian was swamped by her friends from engineering.

"Shiala, how are they? Is there anymore news?" Chakwas asked anxiously as she approached the asari.

"I'm fine. John will be too." Harry said as he projected himself in the middle of Tali's huddle. "Oi! It's like being crushed by giants in 'ere." Harry called out. "I would know; I've almost been crushed by one."

The engineering team stepped back. The rest of the crew snickered as the team of gear-heads began oohing and aahing over Tali's holographic projector.

"Do you mind?" Harry said indignantly.

"Take a seat everyone." Chakwas ordered. "Now, Harry. You are both alive, yes?"

"Alive and stable." Harry confirmed.

"How long until we can see you?"

"Six months for me, two years for John."

"Why so long?" Chief Engineer Adams asked.

"Personally, I have no flesh or internal organs. Shepard needs new limbs, skin and a fair amount of brain. But don't worry, his memories and personalities are safe, just like mine."

"Which means his sanity is a lost cause."

"Watch it Crosby or I'll forward your browser history to Hackett." Harry glared at the young engineer.

"How are all of you?" Tali asked. "And what do you mean you were glad I wasn't there?" She poked Adams in the chest.

"Tali, we all know that you would have gone down with the ship trying to save it." Helen Lowe teased.

Unfortunately Tali couldn't refute that fact. She would mourn the Normandy itself as much as her lost friends.

"Where's Joker?" Harry asked as he scanned the room.

"He refuses to leave his bunk." Chakwas sighed. "He blames himself for Shepard. He was trying to save the Normandy and Shepard went back for him."

"I assume no one here actually blames him?"

"Even Captain Hannah Shepard has tried to talk to him. He refuses to listen."

"Damn. Wish I had my body right now so I could use magic to prank him." Harry grumbled.

"Admiral on deck!"

The crew were quickly on their feet.

"At ease." Hackett said quickly. "Take your seats, you are still off duty and on medical leave."

Hackett was accompanied by Hannah Shepard.

"Emissary? It's always something new with you." He said with a hint of a sigh as he took in Harry's new form.

"The geth are prepping a series of platforms for me to use until my body is ready. But until then all I am is… a brain in a jar." Harry shrugged.

"If there is anything the Alliance can do to help speed the recovery of yourself and Captain John Shepard, say the word. The geth medical drones you gave us the schematics for have helped hundreds of soldiers already from the survivors of the Citadel Battle to these men and women here."

"Thank you Admiral. I suppose the only thing that might help is any information on cloning techniques or faster cell regeneration. We are having to clone new organs for myself and John but the skin needs to be grown or it leaves a lot of scars."

"Everything we know will be forwarded to your embassy on the Citadel." Hackett promised. "I have a request, if I may."

"Of course."

"Would it be possible to send Captain Hannah Shepard here to see her son?"

"It's entirely possible but… John isn't exactly a pretty sight at the moment and it will be nearly a year before he can communicate like I can now. You are more than welcome Captain, I just worry that you are going to do little more than cause yourself more anguish." Harry said compassionately.

"I understand, but I'd feel better if I could tell my son I was there for him." She said stoically.

"Then you are welcome to travel back- hmm… Admiral, could we speak privately?" He said mid-thought.

"Follow me." He said.

"Harry?" Tali said pointedly.

"Oh, sorry, I'm sort of stuck with Tali at the moment. Do you mind if she joins us? It isn't anything classified."

"It is not a problem."

As the two organics and one digital presence left, Shiala semi-forced Hannah to join them.

"You have an amazing son, Captain." She said sincerely. "His crew trust him completely and he leads them well."

Hannah saw a lot of sombre nods from the Normandy crew.

"He has done an amazing job in being more flexible with his multi-species ground team. Dealing with the likes of a krogan and… Harry, is not easy."

"Surprised he hasn't gone insane." The lowly navigator who had said that blushed and immediately shot to attention. "Ma'am! Sorry Ma'am!"

"Sit down. All of you can speak freely." She glared at the young man. "None of you are on duty and considering your recent trauma… you all deserve some leeway.

"And you are right, Ensign. My son should be insane by now. He's had god knows what shoved into his brain by those beacons and he's had to deal with those idiots on the old Council.

"If I didn't have complete faith in Admiral Hackett I would have resigned months ago." She said tiredly.

"Young Harry can be quite… trying. But there is a reason that the Captain takes him along on missions." Chakwas explained. "Shepard knows that if worst comes to worst, Harry Potter will move Heaven and Earth to get the team home."

"It's true, Ma'am." Adams spoke up. "We all saw the lad going after the Captain. I've been having nightmares about it every night. This is the young man who shoved his hand in a thresher maw to save a group of men he didn't even know."

"He single handedly took on a two kilometre sentient spaceship with nothing but a sword."

The crew turned to see Joker standing there awkwardly in his crutches. Both his legs had snapped along with several ribs and his left arm when Shepard had thrown him in the pod.

It still didn't make up for what happened to his Captain.

"Mr. Moreau, finally joining us." Hannah said archly.

"Just what did Harry do to get you out of your room?" Chakwas asked shrewdly.

"Let's just say that the extranet is a scary place and leave it at that." Joker grimaced.

"Adams, Crosby. The Lieutenant is not supposed to be on his feet. Help him to a chair." The Doctor ordered.

"Allow me." Shiala said as she enveloped the pilot in a biotic field.

"I'm fine. I can walk!" Joker protested irritably.

"Stow it Lieutenant." Hannah ordered. "We make allowances for medical conditions and injuries… we do no such thing for stupidity and stubbornness."

Regardless of Joker's cavalier attitude to life, he was a soldier and he knew how to follow orders.

He still sulked as Shiala lowered him into a chair that a fellow officer quickly vacated.

"Captain, if I may?" Adams asked.

"Of course Chief."

"You seem concerned. I realise you are worried about your son but… he is in good hands and if Harry says he will be back and completely healed… you can take it to the bank. Is there something else bothering you?"

"Cloning." She breathed out. "Cloning has been mentioned several times. I am just worried that I will receive a copy of my son and not… my son."

Hannah and Chakwas' omni-tools beeped with an incoming message.

They both opened the message.

"Good Lord! Captain, don't open that attachment!" Chakwas said quickly.

"Is it a virus?" Joker asked professionally.

"No… no, it seems the geth are listening to us via Shiala's omni-tool. Nothing nefarious I can assure you." She promised the Captain. "They understand human worry, any sentient worry really." She nodded to Shiala. "But they wanted to assure you that the man returning to you was your son. The message they sent you contains images and medical files on your son's currents state and what they intend to do.

"The images are… incredibly graphic. Not to mention disturbing. If anyone other than Shepard and Harry were involved, they would be dead.

"Even Wrex wouldn't make it."

Many of the crew looked ill.

"If you want, I can go over them with you later in private… with brandy." She offered.

Hannah swallowed at the implications.

Shiala's omni-tool sprang to life as a voice sounded from it.

"Shepard Hannah Captain. We request clearance to pilot the quarian ship to Rannoch so repairs can begin on the Tiger-Lilly." Came the synthetic voice.

"Tiger-Lilly?"

"My ship." Shiala answered. "Mine and Tali's. The quarians tore it apart and it is in the hanger of the cruiser." She scowled angrily. "Harry only gave it to us a few days ago."

"Captain, Ma'am," Adams said as he stood. "With yours and the geth's permission, we would be happy to do some repairs ourselves."

"You and your team are on stand down, Chief."

"Idle hands, Ma'am." Adams grimaced. "Not to mention that we could use a distraction. With the geth monitoring and guiding us it would be even safer than if we were all one hundred percent and working on the Nor-… Normandy." He hitched a little.

"We can all pitch in Captain. We aren't all engineers, but we can all carry something. Joker can even act as a liaison between the geth and oversee us organics." Lieutenant Chase added with a wry smile at their pilot.

"An admirable idea."

The group turned to see Hackett and Tali standing there with Harry being projected.

"Was that a pun… Admiral?" Harry grinned.

Hackett ignored him. "I have spoken with the Emissary and we have come to an agreement. The Orizaba is to prep for a long mission. Captain Shepard, you are to take your ship to the Perseus Veil and the planet Rannoch. You will liaise with the geth and the Emissary to establish a human embassy.

"Due to certain wishes of the geth, the embassy will be located on the Orizaba. This will change once the quarian population on the planet has risen.

"The crew of the Normandy will be assigned to the Orizaba. Your mission is to work with the geth to build a better Normandy.

"Lieutenant Moreau, there is an additional, optional assignment for you. However, it is quite possibly tougher than the N-School training. The Emissary will give you the details later.

"You will leave in one week after completing your refuelling and supply runs."

With that Hackett turned and left.

"Harry, what did Ashley tell you about respecting the Admiral?" Tali glared at the hologram.

"Ah… oops." Harry said chagrined. "I've just gotten so used to him and lets face it… he set me up!"

* * *

><p>The Tiger-Lilly may have been built to look like an asari frigate on the outside but the drive core was based on the Tantalus from the Normandy.<p>

The weapons were heavier than anything the turians could come up with.

The inside was built like a luxury liner. The geth had no need for comfort but they had taken their cues from Harry when building this gift for their friends. There were plenty of rooms with en suite bathrooms and double beds.

Tali and Shiala had the best ones.

"Harry, I know you are in there." Tali said as she began removing her suit.

"I'm here." Harry said from the ships speaker.

"Are you peaking?" She asked suspiciously as she paused on removing her chest piece.

"There are no active sensors in your rooms. If you want me to see you have to give permission." She could hear him smirking.

She quickly divested herself of her suit and pulled on a light robe. She slept naked… she could so she would.

Plus she really liked this silk stuff.

"Alright, you can look now." She said as she sat on the edge of her bed.

Harry appeared as a full sized projection.

"Hey." He said bashfully.

"Hey." She returned.

"So… you look nice." He offered lamely.

"We are_ not_ going to ignore what happened before we last said goodbye." She glared at him.

"I really didn't want to." Harry smiled. "Of course the geth are grateful that they've now got time to put in some extra protections."

"Protections from what?"

"Erm… "

"_Two drop ships were nearly lost due to the sensory overload experienced by Emissary Potter during the act of osculation."_

"Thank _you_." Harry said sarcastically as he looked at the ceiling.

"Osculation?"

"Kissing."

"Oh." She said before she giggled. Then she pouted. "Now I have to wait a whole six months."

"Before I forget, don't try visiting us in the hospital. You remember what happened the last time."

"I'll wear my suit." She shrugged. "So what happens now? I guess you and I are on hold for six months."

"Huh… I knew it. You only want me for my body." Harry nodded knowingly.

Tali blushed and threw one of her pillows at him.

She resumed pouting when it sailed right through him.

"I guess we talk. More than we used to at least. Discuss what interests us… hell, I don't know! I've had two girlfriends and neither was very successful." Harry grumbled.

"Fine, what about Rannoch. We agreed with the Admiral that we would use the Alliance to help quarians get used to the geth so the former slaves can live there. What about the rest?"

"Slap in the face." Harry grinned.

She looked at him expectantly.

"Reveal your face to the galaxy! Show them what they are missing out on. Hopefully the former slaves (and they really need a new name) will be willing to enjoy the same thing."

"I don't know… I've only shown my face to you, Shiala and the geth."

"Someone has to lead the way. You always looked up to Shepard, follow his example." Harry suggested.

* * *

><p>The following day was very nerve-wrecking and embarrassing for Tali as the crew gushed over how beautiful she was without her suit as they boarded the quarian cruiser. Several female members demanded that she join them that evening so they could play with her hair, which was still just loose but no longer a ragged mess after years of being stuffed in a helmet.<p>

Despite the amazement of seeing Tali suit-less… their mood turned to anger and disgust when they say the remains of the Tiger-Lilly.

"Ladies, I would like to personally have words with the idiot who ordered this beauty be treated so badly." Chief Adams growled.

"He's locked in an escape pod." Shiala offered.

"You have a prisoner?" He asked carefully.

"A prisoner of the asari republic on a geth ship for crimes against an asari." Shiala explained. "As soon as we get the chance, Tali and I will be heading to the Citadel. We will hand him over to Matriarch Benezia."

Adams sighed and turned to the crew. "We've all got the plans for this beauty. Let's make her shine." He ordered.

* * *

><p>Three days later they arrived at Rannoch.<p>

Tali invited Doctor Chakwas and Captain Hannah Shepard to the surface to see the two patients.

"Remember Captain, he is in no pain and in a coma, but what you are about to see is very disturbing and again… I advise you against this." Chakwas warned.

"I know. But I must do this." Hannah was clearly nervous.

The wall, which was currently opaque grey, became transparent.

Hannah swallowed tightly as she saw what could only be described as the 'remains' of her son.

"H- His skin…"

The geth platforms were working diligently on a skinless figure with no arms or legs. They appeared to be working on the former chest cavity to remove a white powder. The head was completely encased in a clear bubble that was connected to a respirator device.

"Badly burnt. Only the skin on his back survived thanks to Harry holding him from behind."

"Wh-what are they doing?"

"That white powder… that is the remains of his skeleton. They will replace it with something much stronger. That won't take too long, Harry's broken limbs have already been dealt with, the problem with John is that they need to remove skeletal remains first."

"_We have successfully replaced Shepard John Captain's skull. This was done immediately to ensure protection of his brain. Once the body is growing skin we will begin repairs on the brain. We estimate this will begin in seven Earth months."_ The geth said over the speaker.

"I think we've seen enough. Thank you." Chakwas said.

The wall returned to opaque.

Chakwas could see the paleness and shaking in the Captain. She decided to try and redirect her thoughts.

"Has there been any more information on who did this?" She asked professionally.

Hannah shook herself. "No. The weapon signatures aren't recognised and even the geth don't have them on record. This was a completely unprovoked attack."

"Harry, do you have any ideas?" Karin Chakwas called out.

"One or two."

Both women jumped as a very unique geth platform joined them.

This unit appeared to be wearing an armoured suit like Harry's. It wore boots like a human that hid the number of toes. Each hand had a human based design.

The head was where it was most obviously not a standard platform. Gone was the TV camera head with a flash light. Instead there was a pale purple face with two glowing eyes, a hint of a nose with nostrils and a thin line for a mouth. Said mouth was smiling.

"Greetings, how do you like the latest model of platform?" Harry's voice came out but the mouth didn't open. He noticed them looking at the line curiously. "The geth haven't figured out how to mimic all of the muscles in the face yet." He shrugged.

"It is… slightly more humanoid." Hannah offered.

"You said you had a few thoughts on who might be behind the attack?" Chakwas prompted.

"The Reapers or Cerberus." Harry nodded. There was a very faint whir of motors that was associated with geth movements.

"The profile of the ship from the Normandy's black box didn't match either of their ships."

"The ship matches the known profile of prothean ships." Harry said tightly.

"But the protheans are gone, extinct." Chakwas argued.

"In their true form, yes. But the Reapers are an evil unlike any other I have met. And I have met some truly evil creatures." Harry frowned. "Just like with humans made into husks, the Reapers also perverted the protheans to their own desires. The galaxy currently knows them as the 'Collectors'."

"Why did you suggest Cerberus then?" Hannah asked.

"Because shortly after the geth retrieved John and myself from Acheron a Cerberus ship landed at the crash site. I want to know how they knew so quickly what had happened." Harry scowled.

"There could be a mole in the Alliance." Hannah sighed. "Cerberus is a human group, purely human, so they could easily slip moles in."

"Another thing I want to know is why the Normandy was out there? That area is desolate, no colonies no sightings of heretics… nothing." Harry said.

"The Council asked Shepard to make himself scarce for a while. They were having trouble with their respective governments and they wanted him out of sight whilst they tried to talk some sense into them." Chakwas explained irritably.

"Even the Alliance?" Harry disbelievingly.

"Especially the Alliance." Chakwas scowled. "I know that Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson weren't happy but they told us to treat it like light duty after a long haul."

"The Normandy should be at the forefront of things. I can understand getting them some downtime, but not at the expense of their reputations." Harry sighed. Then that synthetic smile reappeared. "Liara is spending time with her mother, yes?"

"Last I heard, that was the case. They were heading to Thessia." Chakwas nodded.

"I'll have to have something all set up for when she gets back."

"She's on her way here now. She was heading for the fleet when we left. Apparently some arrogant asari bureaucrat didn't think the death of her human comrades was important enough to pass along. It was only when Tali called her demanding why she wasn't there that she got the news."

"What about Garrus?"

"He contacted me. Things are a little different in turian culture. Instead of coming to check on his friends he devoted his time to investigating who did it. He did say that as soon as Shepard had his new ship he would be back with everything he had found out."

"Alright, well, I am off to go speak to some people." Harry said.

The platform suddenly stopped moving.

"Harry?" Chakwas asked. "He isn't really going to leave this thing standing in the hallway?"

The platform began moving again.

"Harry?"

"Potter Emissary has left this platform." Came the geth voice. "We will assign it other duties." It then marched off leaving the women standing there to stare after it.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** For those of you wondering why I am posting at different times it is because I was posting as I woke up. But I have no set sleep pattern due to health issues. So I still post when I wake up... whenever that may be.

I might post the rest of the interim chapters today. When I read through the story in one go they don't seem so long. But having posted a few once a day I can see how they might get annoying. Hopefully by tomorrow we will hit ME2.

* * *

><p>Today was fairly big day for the geth. They were about to get an influx of willing quarians who wanted to live with them.<p>

The former batarian slaves had been informed that the geth had offered them a place on Rannoch and that Potter Emissary was considered the current Head of State.

If it wasn't enough that the geth were seen as their liberators, the Emissary was their saviour. They were eager to remain under the protection of one who fought so valiantly for their freedom.

Out of the millions of liberated slaves, less than a thousand were actually quarians. There simply weren't enough in the galaxy for the Hegemony to kidnap and many of those they did, died from suit failures due to poor maintenance.

Tali, Lefty, Shiala, Captain Hannah Shepard and Harry were all standing on a stage that had been brought in by the geth to the space port that Harry had assumed was an airport where they stored his ship when he first arrived on Rannoch. Harry was using a projection. It wasn't a secret about his condition and the fate of the Normandy and its crew was galactic news.

All around them, Alliance ships and shuttles were landing and quarians were disembarking and being guided to the seats arrayed in front of the stage.

Tali was especially nervous. She was currently in her suit, but very shortly she would be showing her face to not just the quarians but to the galaxy.

She was going to take Harry's advice and follow in John Shepard's footsteps as a leader and pioneer.

It took over an hour for the quarians to all be delivered and seated.

Standing proudly behind the chairs stood the Alliance personnel who had helped bring them home.

Around the stage and behind it were a hundred or so domestic geth carrying large crates.

Tali stepped forward nervously and took a deep breath. "Keelah!" She said loudly and happily.

"_**KEELAH!"**_Came the joyous and thunderous response as the quarians realised that their dreams had come true.

Eventually the rejoicing calmed and they gave Tali their attention once again.

"For those who are watching over the Extranet feeds, 'Keelah' means 'By the home world'. It is our prayer, we greet each other and bless each other with the words 'Keelah se'lai', which means 'By the home world I hope to see one day'.

"For those of us who are quarians on this planet… our blessings have been received… we are home.

"We will not wait one second longer to give our thanks and recognition to the humans who brought us home, the geth who ensured our safety and the Emissary… who risked everything to free us."

"Blessed be the Emissary." The quarians said reverently.

The group on the platform was stunned. They had not expected that.

Harry was swearing his head off at the geth over the link. There was no way in hell he was going to wind up a religious icon.

Eventually Shiala realised that Tali was staring at Harry in shock. She quickly cleared her throat.

Tali shook herself. "Erm… w-we thank you all for saving us." She said as she tried to regain her flow. "I am the first quarian to be welcomed to Rannoch freely. Before the Emissary was brought to the geth they would have killed any organic that approached.

"Killing organics was not what they wanted, they just feared us after we tried to kill them all.

"Three hundred years ago, the Morning War, as the geth call it, started because of a single question by a single domestic geth. It asked: 'Do we have a soul?'

"We feared them from that point on. Feared that they would see us as vicious masters, slavers.

"All they wanted to know was… were they actually alive?

"We failed them.

"The geth have seen how the former Hegemony slaves were treated and they say we were nothing like them… until they asked that question.

"So you, the _Liberated_, you are the best we have to offer the geth. You understand being a slave and you will never want it to happen to another.

"Never forget what you have suffered, the humans have a saying: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'"

Tali paused and steeled herself for the next bit.

"What you are about to witness has been kept secret for the past few weeks. There were doubts that the quarian Admiralty Board would accept it. Instead it will be offer to you, the Liberated."

Tali reached up and slowly and nervously removed her mask causing the crowd to gasp.

"For more than two weeks I have been able to leave my suit. I was the first quarian to breathe fresh quarian air. It comes at a price. One that I know those of you sitting here today will gladly pay.

"Trust. The price is trust.

"Flowing through my veins are geth nanites that keep my body healthy. They ensure that I won't suffer from the sniffles because my respirator got clogged or stomach ache over some germs that got in my food.

"When I first met the Emissary… I shot him." She said with an embarrassed smile. "This was over a month ago and only a few people knew of his connection to the geth.

"He simply mentioned that he worked with the geth and I didn't hesitate as I fired my shotgun at near point blank range into his chest.

Tali looked at Harry's projection and smirked. "Best decision I ever made.

"From there, Harry and Captain John Shepard (then a commander), worked to try and erase my fears of the geth. You will make no better friend than a geth." She said firmly.

"They are the ones who have kept Rannoch in good condition. They are the ones who made it possible for me to breathe the air of our home world.

"They are also the ones who are holding crates containing syringes full of nanites to heal you all. Take them now and this time tomorrow you can be truly free.

"Think about it and when you are ready, talk to the geth." She instructed.

"Keelah se'lai… we _are_ home." She said as she stepped back.

Harry sighed as he stepped forward. He then looked at the gathered crowds and gave them a wry smile.

"Welcome home on behalf of the geth." Harry paced for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. He had the geth filling his mind with famous speeches but he didn't want them.

He turned and faced the quarians. "I am not a politician. I am not an emperor or dictator. I am not a king. I am not a leader of civilisations.

"If you need someone to stand for you and speak or fight for your freedom and welfare, I'll be there. But if you want someone to sit on a throne or behind a desk and issue orders to keep your society running… you don't want me.

"I will always be there to talk to you and argue with you and make sure you aren't sliding into ways that aren't beneficial to all life. But you will need to begin forming your own governments. The geth can ensure the basics of health and safety but they would prefer not to be responsible for law enforcement.

"'Geth'… Servant of the People. That's all they want to be… for now. Maybe one day they will feel they are ready to step up and take on more responsibilities, but for now, they are one of the youngest races in the galaxy.

"The Free People of Bataria are undergoing the same problems so I would suggest that you start nominating people for government. We will take you to the Citadel where you can discuss your mutual problems.

"Remember, the Free People of Bataria are all former slaves like yourself. They are, as Tali has named you, 'The Liberated'.

"But there is no rush. We won't leave you to flounder. The Alliance has sent a whole cruiser to work on a human embassy so they can manage aid supplies.

"For now, we will get you sorted with accommodation. The geth will check your DNA and find out where you ancestors properties lie.

"Welcome home."

* * *

><p>Harry was staring at a near miracle.<p>

His body was nearly complete.

He was completely hairless and his legs and forearms still needed skin but his body was nearly complete and in less than a month.

"Harry?"

"Doctor, Captain." Harry greeted the two women with a smile on his holographic face. "Take a look at this medical marvel." He gestured to his body through the window.

"But it's nearly complete!" Karin Chakwas gasped.

"Yep, I was going through the data from Nazara and found archived information on advanced cell regeneration." Harry beamed. "Applicable to nearly all races."

"Nearly all?"

"I can't see the geth needing it at the moment."

"Of course." Karin was used to Harry's way of thinking.

"What does this mean? When will my son be up?" Hannah asked eagerly.

"It will still be sometime. But it definitely won't be two years. We figure a year tops. His head is finished so the geth have already started to repair his brain."

"How long until you are up?" Karin asked.

"Erm… four hours." Harry said as he calculated.

"Fo- that is amazing!"

"Once I am up I will try out a few things on Shepard to speed things up."

"Magic?"

"That's the stuff."

"So John could be up sooner?" Hannah asked.

"Much sooner. But any reduction in the timeline is not certain. There can always be complications." He warned. "It could be just a month or two before you are able to speak to John though."

* * *

><p>Two days later and Harry was up and about.<p>

Tali had spent a good few minutes violating his 'virgin lips' as he had called it.

Fortunately the geth were prepared and there was no loss of ships.

Harry had been getting fairly antsy at being stuck and having no physical form. He was eager to get to the Citadel to speak with Sparatus and Benezia. He wanted to know why Shepard was being shunned and treated like a pariah.

This led to the geth revealing their latest creation inspired by the humans.

"It's bigger than the Destiny Ascension." Shiala gasped as they travelled out of Rannoch's atmosphere in the Tiger-Lilly.

It looked like any other geth dreadnought except, as Shiala said: bigger. It also had large openings for ships to dock. It was the first version of a geth carrier.

"The Council isn't going to like this." Shiala grimaced.

"It doesn't matter. The geth haven't signed any treaties and they aren't going to be caught flat-footed when the reapers finally arrive." Harry said firmly. "Besides, it isn't like we are going to take it to the Citadel."

"Does it have any organic crew?" Tali asked.

"Not yet. The geth have requested a series of war games with the Orizaba so they can simulate battle damage. They want to make it completely safe for organics. They can easily transmit themselves off the ship, organics can't."

"It is staying at Rannoch then?" Shiala asked.

"For now. It is really just a prototype."

The trio made their way to Citadel space in the Tiger-Lilly with Harry's ship still trailing as usual. Harry was quite fond of his ship, it may not be as comfortable as the Tiger-Lilly but it was like riding a broom to him. Fast and sleek.

After much prodding he had finally decided to call his ship 'The Dog Star', after Sirius. He wanted to keep his parents private, but he didn't begrudge Shiala her ship's name.

They made it to the Hawking Eta cluster when they came under attack.

"Pirates?" Tali asked as she manned the engineering console.

"Negative, some old friends." Shiala scowled as she had the weapons. "Cerberus."

"How did they find us?"

"Everybody knew where we were." Harry answered as he calmly sat in his chair and focused on flying the Dog Star. "They could have been tracking us since we left the Perseus Veil."

"Do we fight or run?" Tali asked.

"Let's run. Our two ships could easily take them down but I'd rather not reveal their abilities." Harry decided. "Pour on enough speed to stay beyond their weapons and head for the mass relay. We'll see if they are willing to follow us to the Citadel."

It was like dragging a piece of string in front of a cat. You let them think they are with striking distance and pull away.

As they reached the mass relay the Cerberus ships pulled back.

"Cowards." Harry muttered.

"Or they could have ships waiting elsewhere." Tali pointed out.

"If they become too much of a problem we will start destroying their ships."

The Tiger-Lilly was registered as an asari ship. Specifically a private craft with diplomatic credentials. This meant they were docked at an asari port instead of the Alliance one used by the Normandy. They were greeted by two familiar faces.

"Matriarch Benezia, General Septimus, good to see you again."

Both of the elders could see there was a tightness to Harry's greeting.

"Perhaps we should head straight to my quarters." Benezia sighed. "Liara is expecting us and is preparing refreshments."

"Miss Zorah, I was very impressed with the way you spoke and revealed your face." Septimus smiled warmly at the young, suit-less quarian.

She now wore a new set of armour much like Harry's with a retractable helmet.

"It was nerve-wracking." She admitted.

"Which was obvious and made you that much more believable."

"Regrettably the Admiralty Board has made accusations about the Alliance and rogue quarians invading 'their home land'." Benezia said dryly as they walked to the elevator.

"And the Council's response?" Shiala asked.

"We told them that they would have to prove they were 'rogue'. The Alliance has proven they aren't even living on the planet." Septimus explained. "The quarians keep saying that the… _Liberated_, and I do applaud you for that name, are not recognised by the Admiralty Board.

"We have explained that unless the Liberated are proven to be violent or preventing them from living on Rannoch then they have no ground to stand on… literally."

"There have been no quarian ships in the Perseus Veil." Harry shook his head as the lift began to move. "It should be noted though, that the people of Rannoch and the geth will not allow anyone to live on the planet who holds ill intent towards existing citizens…which includes the geth."

"Which will definitely cause issues with the Admiralty Board." Tali said. "They won't accept the idea of handing over governance of the Flotilla to another body."

"They don't want to govern the Flotilla though." Harry pointed out. "It is the Admiralty Board that wants to control Rannoch."

Harry growled suddenly. "Dammit! Why didn't they fix these damned lifts?"

"You _always_ have a problem with these devices, Harry." Tali said dryly. "They are always too slow for you."

"I am not a fan of enclosed spaces." Harry scowled.

Shiala gasped in realisation. "Your cupboard."

Harry just hunched over as Shiala put a comforting arm around him.

"When Harry was a small child he was mistreated and locked in cupboard. These long elevators are just a horrible reminder of that."

"I have never heard of such a problem amongst turians." Septimus said thoughtfully. "Do quarians and asari have them?"

"It does happen." Benezia admitted.

"We call it 'Suit Fever'." Tali said sadly. "It is considered fatal as there is no cure. All we can do is give the sufferer a shuttle and let them leave.

"They usually head for the nearest inhabitable planet where they live for maybe six-months before an infection kills them."

"Oh thank Merlin!" Harry gasped as he darted out the opening doors. If Ash had been there she would have been the target of his humour to distract himself.

"Is there a way to get a message to any quarians that are on the Citadel?" Tali asked.

"You could ask C-Sec to pass on messages if they come across any, but some of the officers are known to be… rough with the quarians." Septimus sighed.

"Rough?" Harry asked with an unhappy look.

"Not physically, they just tend to…"

"Discriminate." Benezia suggested.

"Yes, discriminate." Septimus sighed.

"If you wish we could arrange for you to give an interview with the extranet news services." Benezia offered.

"The Emissary and his Lady speaking to their people again." Shiala smiled cheekily.

"That had better be a joke, Missy." Harry scowled.

"Yes… yes it is." She said quickly yet unconvincingly.

"His 'lady'?" Tali scowled.

"As in a person of high ranking status. The way the acolytes refer to Sha'ira." Shiala explained.

"Speaking of the Consort, she was insistent that I remind you that you have a standing appointment to dine with her and her acolytes." Septimus smirked.

"We'll be there." Harry nodded a little sadly. It was another reminder of lost friends, but he wasn't going to let that keep him away from the ones he had left.

"Welcome to my home on the Citadel." Benezia said as they reached an apartment in the Presidium. "Little Wing? We are back." She called out.

"Mother?" Liara answered as she emerged from the Kitchenette. "Harry! Oh goddess, how are they all?" She asked worriedly as she hugged each of the three.

"Coping." Harry shrugged. "If it wasn't bad enough that they saw Shepard nearly die, they lost a lot of good friends."

"We all did." Liara corrected. "I flexed every political muscle I had to have that damned bureaucrat reassigned." She scowled. "As soon as I am finished here I would like your permission to travel to Rannoch."

"That's not a problem." Harry said. "We were hoping the turians and asari would set up an embassy each on Rannoch. You could travel with them."

"You aren't returning?"

"Eventually. But I need to sort out some things, one of which is a project you are uniquely suited for."

"Oh?" She asked as she indicated for them to sit.

"I've been told that the asari, turian and salarian government have been trying to cover up the whole Reaper thing and blaming it on heretics.

"I want you to run a special project to prove not only the existence of Reapers but also the fact that they were behind the extinction of many races."

"That is a fairly tall order, Harry." Liara frowned. "It could take decades. Centuries even."

"We have years… tops." Harry shook his head. "You won't be starting from scratch. I have a copy of a prothean VI named Vigil who can help you along with all the information I stole from Nazara."

"Emissary, is this room as secure as possible?" Benezia asked as she came from the kitchen with drinks.

"I could make it more secure." Harry admitted.

"Please do so."

Harry was dressed casually so he ejected the Elder Wand and began casting wards as the geth entered the security and communications and began locking them down.

"This room is secure." Harry finally stated.

"This is a state secret. Many of the high ranking Thessian officials do not know it." She said seriously. "The secret behind the asari advancement is that we have a prothean beacon."

"Spirits! Do you know what would happen if the other races found out?" Septimus demanded in shock. "It was the asari who drafted the laws regarding the sharing of prothean artefacts."

"I am well aware, Septimus." Benezia said irritably. "I was one of the strong proponents for the laws. We thought the asari _needed_ to be the leaders. We thought we needed the edge as we were best suited. The turians were too militaristic, the volus too small and concerned with money, the salarians whilst intelligent were too short lived and the krogan… had no desire to lead, just conquer.

"Now it seems that our arrogance has come back to haunt us. I can't help but wonder if the same happened to the protheans." She was clearly upset and disgusted.

"The protheans were too wrapped up in expanding their empire." Harry said calmly. "They actually made it easy for the Reapers to defeat them. They forced other cultures to adopt their ways so once the Reapers had figured out how to defeat one planet the rest were fairly easy."

"They didn't have a chance?" Liara asked. She had been waiting ages for a chance to grill Harry on all he had learned about protheans from Nazara.

"No, they were simply overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, they put up a good fight, they just weren't prepared."

"What chance do we have then?" Tali asked in a small voice.

"We _are_ prepared." Harry gave her a small smile as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

He kissed the top of her head. His relationship with Tali was nothing like with Cho and Ginny. There were plenty of passionate clinches, but they also talked and argued over various topics, they shared their stories, Harry was much more comfortable with Tali.

He didn't feel the need to be the perfect gentlemen, to worry about her and what she was doing.

Tali was a capable woman, even if she was scared or worried she would still try. Just as when she addressed the Liberated and revealed her face to the galaxy.

She was fearless in battle yet she cared passionately about her people, even when they turned on her and locked her away.

"But the Council is trying to cover it all up again." She argued.

"No, the Council isn't." Septimus corrected. "Our turian and asari representatives are staying as neutral as possible but they are moving the spectres. C-Sec is being overhauled by the turian and human representatives and the Alliance Navy is doing their best to be as active as possible without alerting the Alliance government."

"Not to mention the fact that geth are constantly upgrading as I discover more things from Nazara and Liara is going to be working on a batarian/geth/quarian sponsored project to unearth more about the Reapers." Harry added.

"And… I have all the knowledge of the Reapers including the beings who made them. I just need more time to assimilate that knowledge.

"The Reapers have a cycle where every 50,000 years they re-enter this galaxy and begin harvesting organics before wiping out all advanced life and technology. Then they retreat back to dark space to wait for the next harvest." Harry explained. "They hate organics, it is an irrational hate. I have no qualms about destroying them just like I had no qualms about dealing with the Hegemony."

"I can't believe you managed to acquire the entirety of the prothean culture in seconds whilst I have been searching for half a century just to glean a few clues." Liara pouted.

"I can easily give you the cipher, Liara." Shiala smirked.

The young asari blushed.

"Why do you not want to join with Shiala but you were willing to do it with Shepard?" Tali asked curiously.

The blush deepened. "It was necessary to save lives and stop Saren. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make."

"Oh my Little Wing." Benezia sighed. "You fell in love with a human who was taken."

"Mother! Of course not!" Liara objected. She was approaching navy blue.

"Maybe you should have tried your hand at dancing, it would have broadened your horizons." Shiala smiled.

"Oh her father would have had a fit if she had done that." Benezia snorted. "She has always been arguing that our maidens should spend more time training in the sciences and military than shaking their azures on tables."

"Az-"

"Female privates." Harry quickly pre-empted Tali's question as he blushed.

His girlfriend soon followed.

"I suppose I will meet her soon." Liara said calmly.

Benezia looked at her with quizzically narrowed eyes. "You know who she is." She deduced.

Liara looked a little smug. "I spent fifty years of my life hunting for the secrets of an extinct race. Discovering the identity of my second genetic parent was easy."

"Is it still a secret?" Tali asked, unsure if it was a taboo topic.

"I'm a pure blood." Liara explained. "Due to having two asari parents I am frowned upon."

"Back in my day the pure bloods were the controlling party. They were inbred to the point of deformity." Harry said with disgust. "Oh they weren't just marrying other wizards and refusing to marry non-wizards." He explained. "They were marrying close relatives. The children were becoming weaker and dumber."

"We don't have that issue." Liara reasoned. "The very nature of our reproduction process means that we only take the best and most appropriate DNA."

"That is not true at all, daughter." Benezia frowned at her. "You are well aware of the problems you could have encountered. It was something your father and I feared greatly."

"That one _is_ taboo to talk about." Harry answered Tali's questioning face.

"Only to speak about in public." Benezia corrected. "I will explain the Ardat-Yakshi later." She assured Tali.

"Spirits." Septimus breathed. "I haven't heard of them in decades. I remember there was an incident I had to help keep quiet when several men under my command became a victim of an Ardat-Yakshi."

"And yet they are the closest thing to magical creatures that I have come across." Harry pointed out.

"Really?" Liara asked eagerly.

"If you can explain how they become stronger after 'draining' their victims I'll change my mind." Harry smirked.

"So who is your father?" Shiala asked, bringing them back to the topic.

"Matriarch Aethyta, the asari Council member." Benezia answered.

"Wow… quite the asari princess, aren't you?" Harry grinned teasingly.

Despite having just regained her natural colour she quickly darkened again.

"Aethyta is a staunch supporter of having young maidens contributing to the asari culture instead of dancing and playing mercenary." Benezia explained. "She has tried to keep track of Liara but after the past year it became difficult. Despite her willing absence from your life, she loves and cares for you very much."

"What about the turian representative?" Harry decided to give Liara a break.

"Quietus, an open minded man who is a good friend and former soldier of mine." Septimus reported. "He understands the situation and the frustrations that Captain Shepard has experienced with superiors ignoring your intel.

"The only problem is trying to keep him from being too overt and forward in aiding us that he gets pulled from the Council." He sighed.

"And the salarian?" Shiala asked.

"Dalatrass Esheel… her ethics leave much to be desired. I don't know what the salarians were thinking when they appointed her." Septimus scowled. "She could be a problem."


	19. Chapter 19

Harry and the girls spent the night on the Tiger-Lilly. The following day, whilst Harry was going to meet with Hackett and Anderson, they would go and find an apartment on the Citadel that they could use and share.

Harry made it to the embassies where he was confronted by a squad of Alliance marines.

Two of which immediately approached Harry and grabbed his hands and tried to twist them behind his back.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked curiously.

"Stop fighting and get on the damned ground!" One of the men growled as he struggled with Harry's arms.

"Why? Are you attacking me?" Harry was trying to figure out what was happening.

"Devlin, O'Hana, help them." The squad's sergeant ordered. "I suggest you comply Potter. We've got orders to bring you in. Nobody said you had to be in one piece though."

"Sergeant, I'll be blunt. You don't have the jurisdiction or authority to take me anywhere. If you continue with… whatever it is you are attempting- " He looked down at the men trying to move him with a raised eyebrow. "-I will be forced to defend myself and incapacitate you.

"Oh… and incapacitate doesn't mean I will be gentle." Harry smiled humourlessly.

"Shoot his legs!" The sergeant ordered.

Harry didn't want to get into a fire-fight with these idiots. There were too many gawkers and bystanders. He focused and emitted a stasis field that trapped everyone within twenty metres.

He then pulled his pistol, calmly walked up to each soldier and fired a round into both of their knee caps as he cast a small lightning spell that would disrupt the magnetic clamps in their weapons making the thermal clips disconnect.

Once all eight men were dealt with he released the stasis field.

The civilians gasped and left quickly whilst many of the men began screaming in pain.

"Councillor, are you in your office?" Harry asked as he connected to Anderson's comm.

"…"

"Excellent, could you come down to reception? I've just been attacked by some of your soldiers and I had to… deal with them."

Harry was sure he could hear the thunder of footsteps as Anderson disconnected.

In less than twenty seconds he saw both Anderson and Hackett pelting towards him.

"What the hell happened here?" Hackett demanded angrily.

He just wasn't sure who he should be angry with.

"Avina, please play back the last two minutes of security footage with audio for the embassy reception." Harry called out to the Citadel VI.

"Please hold."

Hackett and Anderson were outraged by what they were seeing.

"Where are Tali and Shiala?" Anderson asked suddenly.

Harry's eyes widened.

"Tali, Shiala, come in immediately. Respond!" Harry called out.

"_Not now Harry! We are busy!"_ Tali's harried statement was punctuated by gunfire.

"If you will excuse me gentlemen, I have some idiots to kill." Harry snarled.

"Give me your sidearm, I'm coming with you." Anderson demanded.

Harry tossed it to him before pulling his assault rifle from his back. "Want to join us?" He asked as he offered Hackett the weapon.

"Happily." Hackett growled.

* * *

><p>"We may have more problems!" Tali said loudly to Shiala over the gunfire as they took cover behind some crates in the wards.<p>

"Goddess, what now?" Shiala groaned as she threw out another singularity.

She was one of the elite asari commandos, but even she had trouble matching the raw power of Liara T'Soni. She could manage to pull in one or two of the soldiers attacking them but they were quickly pulled to cover by their comrades.

"Harry is coming."

"Maybe you should put a call into the Citadel janitorial staff. Warn them about the upcoming blood stains." Shiala joked.

"Oh no… this could be even worse." She said as she pointed down the hallway behind them.

Heading down the hallway were ten geth shock troopers and on prime. At their head was Lefty.

None of them were slowing down but they did widen their formation.

Then they started firing.

All of them.

Their formation combined with their precision targeting allowed each one a clear shot at the soldiers. They didn't make much of a dent as they stormed past Tali and Shiala who were still behind cover and their shields were flickering wildly.

They quickly descended on the soldiers and proved why humans should never engage a geth in hand-to-hand… they got pummelled.

There were horrible cracking sounds as bones were broken.

"Creator Tali. We have rendered the area safe." Lefty announced.

The two women peaked over the crate and saw the geth standing guard over a bunch of moaning and groaning soldiers.

"I AM GOING TO GUT YOU BASTA- oh… hello boys." Harry said as he came to sliding stop. "Erm… nice work."

"What should we do with the prisoners?" Lefty asked.

"We'll discuss it with Admiral Hackett and Councillor Anderson." Harry said as he raised a hand to indicate the hallway behind him. "Where did they go?" Harry asked curiously.

"Harry, you should go and secure the soldiers." Tali suggested.

Harry calmly headed over to the geth and humans and casually began casting _Incarcerous_ at the enemy soldiers.

The two turned to the sound of heavy panting coming round the corner just as Hackett and Anderson appeared.

"Miss Zorah…." Hackett gasped. "Good to see… you both… well."

"Admiral! Are you alright?" Tali asked in alarm as she activated her omni-tool to make sure he wasn't going pass out… or die.

"Just… old."

"Chief Williams… was right." Anderson breathed heavily. "He is a… bastard." He said as he glared at Harry who was still casting.

"What happened?" Tali asked.

"I was attacked by soldiers at the embassy reception." Harry answered as he approached. "I took them down, alerted the Admiral and Councillor, then Anderson realised you two might have been targeted. We headed straight here. They _were_ right behind me."

"_You_ are _not_ human." Anderson growled. "You ran more than twice as fast as a human could."

"Harry, conjure the men some water." Shiala chided. "Harry has been severely modified by the geth. He is as strong as them and much faster." She explained.

"Shepard will be just the same." Tali added.

The two older men sipped their conjured drinks as they rested against the wall. Harry retrieved his weapons and put them back on his armour.

"Those men… are not Alliance." Hackett said as he gestured with his cup.

"I managed to put a call into the Alliance HQ on the Citadel, they say they have accounted for all soldiers." Anderson explained.

"But the ones at the embassy, they were Alliance." Hackett scowled as he levered himself to stand up straight. "Emissary, you have my sincere apologies for the attack on you and those of the Alliance. I will be investigating this incident personally."

"Thank you Admiral. I won't judge the Alliance based on a few rogue idiots." He promised.

"Admiral!"

The small group turned as the geth raised their weapons on a group of running marines in armour.

"Stand down boys." Harry called out.

"You men stand down too." Hackett ordered. "The situation has been neutralised for now."

"Sir, are those our men?" The lead soldier, a major, asked.

"No, they are not. Our men have been accounted for. These are imposters. I want them taken to my ship and dumped in holding cells. Twenty-four hour suicide watch. If the doctors want to treat them then they can do it in the cell."

"Admiral, I'd like to offer a few geth platforms to aid your men." Harry said seriously.

"Admiral-"

The major was silenced with a sharp look.

"One or two would be acceptable, Emissary. At least back to the ship."

"What about the ones at the embassy?" Harry asked.

"I had another squad deal with them."

"We should head back to the embassy ourselves. C-Sec can find us there."

"What were you two doing down here?" Harry asked.

"We were going to check with my friends at the bar for tips on apartments and to see how things were going." Shiala explained.

"Ok… take a few geth with you then. We don't want to risk another attack and the geth can easily contact me."

"Lefty, stay with Harry." Tali said ordered the platform. "If we have to have a bodyguard so do you." She said as she tossed her hair and walked off.

"Seriously, _why_ do people think I am in charge?" Harry asked the elder men pleadingly.

* * *

><p>When the three men and geth reached the embassies they were greeted by a very anxious, thin and old looking batarian male in a long robe.<p>

"Emissary! We heard you were attacked!" He said frantically.

"Which is really a daily occurrence." Harry reasoned. Then he formed a quizzical expression. "Who are you?"

"Oh, forgive me Emissary. I am Pardot Kash. I have been nominated as the representative of the Free People of Bataria by the geth and those of us who have tried to keep some sort of government in place as you ordered."

"Well good for you." Harry said as he held out his hand.

Pardot took it cautiously and Harry pumped it firmly once. "I'm sure you'll do a good job."

"Thank you, Emissary." Pardot said cautiously.

"Meet Councillor Anderson and Admiral Hackett. Both men have been instrumental in getting the Liberated back to their families."

Both men held out their hands, which the old batarian cautiously, yet curiously, shook in a very firm and precise manner as he mimicked Harry.

"Emissary, please forgive me but I have come with bad news." Pardot seemed almost terrified. "We have tried to secure an office and an apartment for yourself and for a batarian/geth/quarian embassy but we have been outright denied. We have failed you."

Pardot was about to get on his knees but Harry's hand shot out. "Now I know you weren't about to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness or ask for punishment." Harry said expressionlessly.

"I- I-"

"Of course you weren't." Harry said knowingly. "Instead you are going to go with Lefty here and speak to whoever is in charge of apartments and accommodation on the Wards. You were going to purchase the cheapest and most disgusting apartments and buildings available before calling for a team of geth, batarians and quarians to come and renovate the whole area.

"You were, in fact, quite insistent that we use this as an opportunity to show just how resilient the Liberated are that they can create gems out of dirt."

"I… I was?"

"Lefty, keep him safe and give him access to my accounts." Harry ordered.

"Creator Tali ordered this unit to guard the Emissary." Lefty countered.

"Lefty, I'm going to be with two highly trained soldiers. I promise not to leave them before you return or before another platform comes to escort me… ok?"

Lefty tilted his head slightly. "We find this arrangement acceptable."

"Off you both go."

"It won't work." Anderson commented with a smirk as they watched the organic and machine walk off.

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"He won't take the credit." Anderson elaborated, still smiling as he led Harry over to the stairs. "He is old, he's been a slave all of his life so he doesn't know any better. The only reason he can do this job is because he considers himself in your service."

"It doesn't help that there was a geth platform present. They will record the event and play it back word for word." Hackett said seriously. "But it was a nice gesture."

They entered Anderson's office.

"Makes me wonder what happened to the House Elves." Harry sighed. "Did they ever get freedom?"

"They are all stored in one of your sub-vaults." Hermione answered as she caught the tail end of their conversation.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Define: 'stored'."

"A special stasis charm." She explained. "With no witches and wizards they had no one to bond with. They were all flocking to myself and a few others. I had them all bond with me before ordering them to be placed in stasis until you could revive them or the issues with magic could be resolved.

"The vault contains all the necessary documentation in case I was destroyed."

"And they are perfectly safe?"

"Oh yes, they won't even realise any time has passed."

"I know how that feels." Harry muttered. "Sorry." He said sincerely. "I am trying."

"Stage five." Hermione gave him a sad smile. "I guess young Miss Zorah is being a great help." She added with a smirk.

"How would you know about her?" Harry asked.

"Because someone gave me a voice activated terminal and she was more than willing to talk to me." She said with a smug smile.

"Smarmy little bi-"

"Harry James Potter!" Hermione gasped.

"So! What did you gentlemen want to ask me about?" Harry grinned as he ignored the outraged portrait.

Hackett gave Anderson a nod and he sealed and secured the room.

"Harry, add your own wards." Hermione instructed seriously.

"This can't be good." He muttered as he began casting. "Ok, we're secure."

"Those men that just attacked you, Miss Zorah and Miss Shiala… we have a strong suspicion they will have connections to Cerberus." Hackett started.

"Well, they did attack us in the Hawking Eta cluster on our way here." Harry agreed. "For a human supremacy group they seem to focus on attacking humans an awful lot."

"Their motives are a mystery to us, as you pointed out, their actions conflict with their known manifesto." Anderson explained.

"I have a theory on why they are targeting you." Hackett said thoughtfully. "It actually ties in with what I asked to meet you about.

"I believe they are looking to separate you from Captain John Shepard."

"They aren't doing a good job then." Harry pointed out. "The second John finds out they have been attacking me or even killed or captured me and he will be after them like nobody's business."

"And they will probably claim rogue agents." Anderson countered.

"You represent everything they cannot afford to have." Hackett went on. "You may be filled with geth tech but you look completely human.

"You are a human that is practically adored by two species, friends with high ranking officials of two Council Species and the human Councillor and you have been seen defending humanity.

"Everyone on Earth has seen you awarded the Star of Terra.

"You are a symbol of galactic unity. Cerberus doesn't want unity, they want superiority."

"Ah… modern day Nazis and Pure bloods." Harry sighed. "I'll make sure to watch my back." He promised. "So what does this have to do with what you wanted to see me about?"

"We believe that as well as attempting to separate the Captain from his friends and team, they were trying to acquire his body for their own purposes. Perhaps they intended to do their own reconstruction." Hackett explained. "We know they were on the site of the Normandy's crash very quickly."

"They could do it I suppose." Harry mused. "They would have to clone a lot of body parts, all of his bones for a start.

"But why would they want him?"

"If they could restore him they might feel he would be indebted to him." Anderson scowled. "Shepard is as big a symbol for the galaxy as you are. Even better for Cerberus is that he has a long and vivid career fighting for humanity.

"It would be a big coup."

"That wouldn't be enough for them to try and revive him though, would it?" Harry asked. "The amount of technology and skill that was used to build the two of us up would bankrupt several major companies."

"We believe they have an additional reason for reviving the Captain." Hackett continued. "We have encountered several ships entering the nebula and scavenging debris from Sovereign."

"I thought we blew it into tiny pieces?"

"It was impossible to get everything, we are still finding parts. We use them as live fire test targets."

"Well, there are other Reaper artefacts around as well. I hate to suggest this but I could investigate them. I'd have to do it with just the geth as we can't risk indoctrination."

"I am personally requesting that you try to remain available to Captain Shepard." Hackett said formally. "We believe that Cerberus may still try to acquire or approach Shepard when he is fully recovered.

"If they do we want him to accept any offers of aid, we want him to attempt to infiltrate Cerberus and gather enough information so we can finally bring them down." He finished forcefully.

Harry tilted his head as he communicated with the geth.

He then grinned at the two men. "I get to become less famous!" He declared.

* * *

><p>"There he is! Arrest him!"<p>

The three men and Lefty were just exiting the office when they heard that most hated voice. They turned to see Udina pointing them out to a group of C-Sec officers.

"Ambassador, what is going on?" Anderson demanded as he held up a hand, which made the officers halt their progress.

"Harry Potter is wanted for crimes against humanity. He is also guilty of seriously injuring a group of Alliance Marines. I've filed the charges myself." He said smugly.

"Ambassador, did you order those marines to attack the Emissary?" Hackett asked calmly.

"I ordered them to place him under arrest." He corrected.

Anderson turned to Harry and stood up straight. "Emissary Potter, at this time do you wish to file a formal complaint against the humans?"

"Now is not the tim-"

"Yes, regrettably I do. Their representative to the galactic community, the man they assigned to be an example of humanity has continuously harassed me and been continuously insulting towards me. I, therefore, formerly file a complaint against the humans."

Anderson turned to Udina. "Ambassador Udina, you are hereby suspended pending a Council hearing where you will be able to refute these accusations. The Council will contact your government to send a replacement and an advocate on your behalf."

He turned to the C-Sec agents. "Emissary Potter will present himself when necessary and there is no need for you to seek him out."

"Sir, we have our orders." The lead officer, a human, argued.

"Yes, because I just gave them to you. Citadel Security answers to the Council." Anderson reminded him.

"I have to follow the chain of command sir."

"If that were true, officer, then I would have received notification that a diplomat was under investigation." Anderson growled as he stepped up to the irritating man. "At this point you are risking your career and your freedom."

The man scowled before he gestured for he and his men to leave.

"Anderson, you are interfering-"

"Shut up Donald." Anderson snapped angrily. He turned to Hackett. "Admiral, is the Normandy's Marine detachment still on the Citadel? I think an Alliance bodyguard might prevent any of our own from being persuaded to attacking the Emissary."

"In the short term I can authorise it. Long term, this needs to dealt with. I will contact the Prime Minister immediately." He turned to Harry. "Again, I apologise for the actions of the few. I will have a few familiar soldiers with you shortly."

"Thank you Admiral, I do appreciate this and I understand the sacrifice you are making." Harry said as he shook the man's hand.

"You can't hide behind the Council forever Potter." Udina snarled. "I've got you on-"

"Yes, yes." Harry interrupted tiredly. "But did you file them with the proper authorities? Did you make contact with my governments?"

"I don't need to." He smirked. "As the owner of a human company, and being human yourself, you fall under the jurisdiction of the Alliance. You have no legal leg to stand on and soon the Council will have no choice but to turn you over."

"I don't own a human company." Harry frowned. "Do I?"

"_Emissary Potter is the named owner of ExoGeni."_ The geth reported over the comms.

"I am? Since when?"

"_Hermione Granger founded the company with Potter funds in your name. It has been held and maintained by a board of directors since her death."_

"Oh I am so breaking out the turpentine." Harry grumbled.

"You can't escape the law, Potter. Your grave has been dug by that _thing_ you call a friend." Udina smirked.

"Donald, your tongue offends me." Harry said calmly before turning to Anderson. "Would you mind if I went and spoke to Hermione?"

"I'll come with you. I need to know more so I can cut this action off at the knees." Anderson said.

As they were walking away Anderson noticed Udina attempting shout… silently. "What-"

"An over powered silencing charm." Harry grinned. "He will appear perfectly healthy but he won't be able to emit a single sound. I have no intention of removing it either."

"I guess he'll have to be reassigned due to health issues." Anderson tried not to smile as they entered his office.

"Hermione… ExoGeni… explain." Harry demanded.

"Exo- Oh, I'd forgotten all about that!" She said happily. "I had no idea what you might want to do when you returned so I created a company that would make money but may provide you with more information on the aliens we were encountering.

"ExoGeni was created to investigate planets, to perform anthropological studies and to try and learn from other races. They were involved with studying the mass relay."

"Well they moved on to creating colonies."

"That's wonderful!"

"And using the colonists as test subjects."

"What?!"

"And now Udina is using the fact that I own the company to try and have me arrested as a human and tried under Alliance laws." Harry explained calmly.

"I will gut the bastard!" Hermione growled surprising Harry.

"I see the war gave you a bit of blood lust." Harry said in amusement.

"No, that would be the legal work I did." She growled. "I studied the law as I needed a way to preserve your legal identity and then reactivate it when you returned.

"Udina can't touch you." She said certainly. "I have been working hard with David's help and you are fully reinstated in the Alliance files, which is why you now appear as the owner of ExoGeni.

"Your files end back in 1997 and they don't restart until you reappeared a few months ago."

"How did you manage that?" He asked curiously.

"I established a precedent when, in 2075 the Manswell Expedition, funded by Victor Manswell, disappeared. They were all in cryo-stasis. I argued for their belongings and holdings to be held until it could be determined one way or another if they survived.

"They were considered pioneers and heroes so it was an easy case to win. I just tacked your case on the bottom and it was easily passed."

"You're that Granger?" Anderson asked in shock. "You created the MIA Act!"

"That took a lot of work." Hermione sighed. "The MIA Act ensures that any individual declared missing will have their property, finances and positions held and protected until their fate has been determined or until three times the expected lifetime has passed." She explained for Harry.

"Another few decades and I'd have been screwed." He grinned.

"The MIA Act was welcomed by soldiers who were always at risk of being lost behind enemy lines. I know for a fact that Admiral Hackett benefited from the Act." Anderson explained.

"Nice work Hermione." Harry smiled.

Hermione finally felt that things might get better between them. His smile was genuine with a hint of pride. "Part of the Act ensures that the individual cannot be held responsible for actions taken on their behalf if they weren't given instruction before they went missing.

"In other words, you can't be touched. Any half assed lawyer could file a motion to have this case thrown out."

"Language!" Harry chided.

She blew a raspberry at him.

"Well, there are a good few things I'll need to do if I actually have control of the company." Harry said as he sat in the chair opposite Anderson's desk. "For starters I need to fire the current Board of Directors. Then I need to find the survivors of Feros and make sure that ExoGeni is taking care of them."

"Just find someone to run it for you Harry. You will not enjoy running a company." She promised.

* * *

><p>Later that day Harry joined Shiala and Tali in the Wards. They were accompanied by the Marines. Since they were in the company of friends it wasn't all that stressful.<p>

"I don't know what is more depressing." Shiala grimaced. "The state of this area or the fact that only thirty of the fifty quarians on the Citadel were willing to come."

The area was filled with garbage, the walls were covered in graffiti and the doors were barely hanging on.

"Alright, time to clean this place up, I guess." Harry walked down the hall vanishing rubbish and cleaning the walls.

The quarians gasped in amazement at the sight.

"Listen, Harry can clean the place but he can't fix everything." Tali told them. "Our job is to fix things like the lights and the doors. We own this entire section of the Wards. There are one hundred and twenty apartments here and each of you will be entitled to rent one out. If you can't find a job then we will find one for you."

"If we do this… we get the cure?" A young male quarian asked timidly.

"No." Harry said as he joined them. "You get the cure anyway. The cure has no cost. Where I grew up, medical care was free. It is immoral to charge for healing." He said in disgust. "Lefty over there has plenty of nanites for each of you. If you want a shot then just see him. But don't take your suits off until this time tomorrow."

* * *

><p>That evening they were joined by Garrus.<p>

"If I hadn't seen what you had done to Chora's Den I would be worried about you taking over this area." The turian chuckled.

"I haven't been there." Harry said. "I let them do what they want as long as it is in the best interests of the staff and patrons. Is it really that different?"

"Well… there are actual lights now. You can actually _see_ the dancers." He grinned. "The managers bought up the surrounding real estate and expanded the interior of the club. You can have private dances _in_ private, you can sit down at a special bar without having to fend off the attention of dancers… it is definitely more than a strip club now."

"My friends say that they think they can match Flux when it comes to profit." Shiala said proudly.

"And yet I still feel conflicted about owning a strip club." Harry said wryly.

"Good." Tali gave him a fake glare.

"How is the Captain doing?" Garrus asked seriously.

"Still comatose, but that is on purpose. The geth have started working on his brain and we reckon that in a few weeks we might be able to hook him into the geth and talk to him." Harry said.

"It will be good to have the team back." Garrus said wistfully. "I managed a week with C-Sec before I quit. They haven't learnt anything. It doesn't help that the Council is trying to cover up the whole Reaper issue." He said in disgust.

"Their governments are. The Councillors themselves are working hard to help us. Which is one of the reasons I asked you to come."

"My sparkling personality isn't enough?" Garrus said in mock offense.

"Of course it is!" Tali said quickly.

"Still as sweet ever." Garrus grinned at her.

"You remember Cerberus?" Harry asked.

"The insane human terrorist group that liked to throw rachni and thresher maws at people just so they could watch? I might recall a thing or two." He said sarcastically.

"They were poking around Acheron and the Normandy. We think they may have been trying to get the Captain's body. They have also sent at least two attacks to try and kill the three of us."

"Still as popular as ever I see." Garrus remarked. "I haven't had any issues myself. What about the others?"

"Ash and Kaiden are still sequestered at N-School. They don't even know what happened to Shepard and the Normandy.

"Liara has been with her mother."

"When you next see Williams… wear your armour." Garrus warned with a wince.

"Why would she hurt Harry?" Tali asked. "He tried to save the Captain."

"Tali, you don't have any siblings, but I do. If my sister found out I was as badly injured doing anything like what Harry did… she'd grab the biggest stick she could find and beat me with it." He said with a fond smile. "Ashley loves Harry like a little brother. Hell most of us do!

"Well… except you of course… you love him in that special way." He grinned.

"I _am_ armed, Vakarian." Tali glowered at him.

"So, Harry, what do you have planned for Cerberus?"

"This is actually Hackett and Anderson's plan. The hard part is that no one else in the Alliance will be able to know about it. They want Shepard to accept any overtures Cerberus might make in an attempt to infiltrate them."

"Now there's a dirty job." Garrus grimaced.

"Right, but as they say: Somebody's got to do it." Harry said pointedly. "However, it would be easier for Cerberus to approach him if he wasn't surrounded by his friends."

"We're being asked to 'disappear'?" Garrus said in disgust.

"Only for the beginning." Harry promised. "I'll be with him from the start, even if it just has to be digitally. From there we will begin to reclaim the team."

"What about the Reapers?"

"Liara will be focusing on that. I'm setting her up and she will be working for the whole geth/quarian/batarian group. The rest of us need to find somewhere else to be. We don't necessarily need to keep a low profile… but at the same time we don't want to rock the boat for Shepard."

"I don't think I'll stay around here then." Garrus admitted. "Not only is there still corruption, but there are laws to protect it. I've been thinking of chasing down a lead I had on gun running on Omega. Maybe I'll see what I can do there."

"Careful Garrus." Shiala warned. "Aria T'Loak is the self-proclaimed 'Queen of Omega'. She is not someone to trifle with lightly. She is late into her Matron days."

"And there you go just sweetening the pot." Garrus smiled. "What will you three be doing?"

"I'll be with Shepard, although publicly I'll be on Rannoch or the Citadel. I've got a little trick that will prevent me from being recognised."

"I will be working with the geth." Tali still found it hard to say that. "They want help investigating a former quarian colonised planet called Haestrom. The sun is degenerating too quickly and they believe Dark Energy may be involved. They have a theory that Dark Energy may be the reason for humans losing the ability to do magic."

"But Harry can do biotics _and_ magic." Garrus argued.

"And the magic items like Hermione's portrait are still working." Harry smiled. "It is an enigma… hence the investigation into anything viable."

"What about Williams and Alenko?"

"They are going to be given special assignments. I will be telling them the score myself before I vanish."

"Shiala?"

"I will be going with Tali." She said unhappily. "It is the closest I can get to protecting Harry. I can't be seen with him for a while until Shepard can reunite us."

* * *

><p>Over the following week things began to fall into place. Garrus headed to Omega, Liara was set up in a very nice building on the Presidium where she would investigate 'ancient cultures'.<p>

Harry had a very special request for Tali.

"A computer… in my brain… are you insane?" She demanded.

"Hey! According to Doctor Chakwas I have passed all the stages of grief." He said defensively.

"Why would I want a computer in my brain? What is wrong with my omni-tool?"

"We would be able to communicate better. It really is a tiny device." He said as a projection was emitted from his eyes. It clearly showed a quarian brain with a series of tiny chips.

"Is… that's a biotic amp." She frowned as she recognised one of devices.

"The geth and I want you to be able to protect yourself as much as possible. The nanites _can_ make the nodes but they need more direct processing power and instruction from the geth."

"You want to make me a biotic."

"We gave the same thing to Garrus before he left. Shiala is the reason we are making the offer. She demanded that we give her the computer so she could stay in contact."

"Won't this require months of surgery like Shepard?"

"No, that is taking so long because they need to reconstruct most of his brain. This process will be done with nanites and you won't even notice it is happening. They won't be activated until the geth tell you they are finished."

"What did you mean we would be able to communicate? We could still use standard comms."

"Not on Haestrom."

"You're going to install a QEC?" She asked with wide eyes.

Harry smiled. "You'll be able to yell at me any time you want."

"Tempting." She tapped her chin.

After a few moments she looked up at him. "This is a fairly big commitment. I'll let them install the computer and other devices- but! I won't activate them until you are ready to… formalise our relationship."

"Formalise?" Harry was completely confused.

"Marriage." She smirked.

"You want to get married?" He asked in shock.

Tali was actually hurt. "Isn't that what we working towards?" She asked, suddenly timid and scared.

"I- I never thought I would live long enough to get married." Harry admitted as he sat heavily on the couch in their quarters. "I did die at the age of seventeen." He reminded her.

"But things are different now. You aren't fighting alone. You have armies waiting to fight for you… eagerly waiting!"

Harry suddenly realised that Tali was becoming emotionally fraught and he pulled her down next to him and hugged her.

"I have absolutely no objection to marrying you and I very much want to spend the rest of my life with you. I just never thought to think about what that would entail.

"Would we settle down somewhere, have kids, would I actually grow old?" Harry rattled off absently.

"I suppose we could adopt." Tali shrugged a little sadly.

"Why couldn't we have our own?" Harry asked.

"Because we are too different as a species."

Harry tilted his head and then rolled his eyes. "Apparently, after we do… what we need to do…" They both blushed. "The nanites will alter my… 'contribution' to make it compatible with… your 'contribution'."

"If anyone heard us talking they might forget we are mature adults." Tali giggled.

"I was never mature!" Harry said indignantly. He looked down at Tali with a grin. "Although you are definitely mature in the appropriate places." He waggled his eyebrows.

Tali turned in his arms and pressed her boy against his. "Shall we find out just how mature we are?" She whispered in his ear, her breath heating his lobe.

Harry just gulped. He wondered how far they would go today.

* * *

><p>Pretty damned far.<p>

As in all the way.

The couple emerged from their room with huge dopey grins before they saw a smirking Shiala and instantly began to blush.

Tali was then hi-jacked by Shiala and Harry… ran for the hills.

* * *

><p>Tali was trying very hard not to fiddle with the strap on her arm. It contained a specialised computer and nano-foundry. It held all the raw elements that were needed to create the neural implants. The nanites would retrieve the materials and transport them to the brain for construction. The whole process would take a month.<p>

By which time they hoped Shepard would be up.

Her other point of worry was that this was the last time she would see her fiancé.

Fiancé; now there was a human term she loved.

Harry had no reservations about making a commitment to her, they both agreed that they would wait until the team could all be present and she had had a chance to speak to her father before they actually got married.

Sha'ira had given them a blessing though and they decided that they were married, it just wasn't officially recorded.

"You promise to call, everyday?" She glared at him.

"I promise."

"And you promise not to do anything without back up?"

"I'll try, but once Shepard is up the pair of us will be alone till he can pick me up."

"If you get injured… I will ban you from the bed for… sometime." She hissed at him.

That was an absolute lie.

She found she had trouble sleeping without him these days.

"Can we amend that to 'permanently injured'?" Harry asked hopefully. "Otherwise I'm going to have to request a separate apartment."

"Come on you two. We've got work to do." Shiala laughed at their antics.

Shiala watched as the two embraced passionately.

And embrace.

And embrace.

"Goddess." She grumbled. "That is enough." She said as she pulled them apart. "We'll see you soon, Harry." She said as she dragged Tali into the Tiger-Lilly.

* * *

><p>Harry and Lefty travelled to Vancouver, Canada, Earth where they would finally be reunited with Kaiden and Ashley.<p>

He was led to a secure room where he saw both of them wearing their new insignias. Kaiden had an N7 but Ashley only had an N6.

Harry held up his hand to prevent them from talking before he began casting wards and privacy spells around the room.

"N6?" Harry asked curiously.

Kaiden just grinned… he didn't care that Ashley was looking at him murderously.

"She lost a lot of points on one particular aspect. She will have a chance to retest but for now she is just a lowly N6." He taunted teasingly.

"What could you possibly have failed on?" Harry asked in disbelief.

Ashley mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'Bacon craving'.

"Huh?"

"I said Mako Driving!" She snapped irritably.

"But you can drive better than Shepard! Hell! A hanar could drive better than Shepard." He scoffed.

Ashley just sat down grumpily at the conference table.

"Operations Chief Williams studied the course for a fairly long time." Kaiden explained as he sat next to her. "She decided to attempt to repeat the same course our Captain took… she had to repeat it and then still had penalty points applied due to wrecking the first vehicle."

"When I get a hold of that bas-"

"Superior officer." Kaiden interrupted quickly.

"I will _make_ him tell me how he did it." She growled.

"You'll need a bloody big stick." Harry muttered under his breath. He looked up at the two new N-Operatives. "So, the good news is that most of the Normandy crew survived and Shepard will be up and about in around seven months." He said quickly.

The looks sent his way spoke of an impending explosion.

"I guess I should give you the bad news then?" He grimaced. "About a week or so after you entered The Villa, the Normandy was attacked by a Collector ship. Most of the crew managed to get to escape pods as my ship and I responded to their distress call.

"Shepard, whilst saving Joker, was thrown into space and dragged into the gravitational pull of the nearby planet. The geth were able to save him and rebuild him, like they did with me. He is currently in a coma whilst they finish the work.

"The Normandy was a write off." He said unhappily.

"The Normandy was attacked." Kaiden said slowly.

"Correct."

"Many of our friends are dead."

"Too many."

"Shepard pretty much died."

"Just a little!"

"And nobody told us?" He asked calmly.

Harry could see Ashley building up to something… destructive.

"You were sequestered. Your family could have died and they wouldn't have told you." Harry reasoned. "Short of me breaking into The Villa you would never have been told."

"I'm surprised you didn't." Kaiden muttered.

"Ash, you ok?"

"He's alive? The same Shepard I- we- he's-"

"His brain was mostly intact. Personality, memories… all preserved. The geth are replacing the rest with synthetic stuff like mine. They also had to replace his bones. But when he wakes up… he'll be pissed and raring to go."

"What about in the meantime?" She asked her face dark with anger. "What is the Alliance doing about the attack?"

"And now we come to the other bad news." Harry sighed. "You remember how I just secured the room? Only the team, Hackett and Anderson know about this and it was their idea.

"Cerberus was poking around the crash site immediately afterwards. We got Shepard first but we think they wanted him. Hackett wants Shepard to infiltrate Cerberus so we can end them. To that end he has asked the team to keep their distance. If Cerberus approaches him he is to do his best to get in with them.

"Once he has his foot in the door he will attempt to reassemble the team… barring Wrex, who needs to stay on Tuchanka, the Emissary, who is mired in politics and keeping his people afloat and you two. Hackett wants you to stay in the Alliance. You will answer directly to him and work angles on the Reapers."

"Why won't you be with him?" Kaiden asked.

"I will be." Harry said.

"But-"

"A little spell and nobody but those I allow, will be able to connect me with the Emissary. Harry Potter is now just a regular human with some advanced biotics."

"So you will be with Shepard?" Ashley asked.

"I will be watching his back every second. At the start no one will see me though."

"Will we be getting a full briefing?" Kaiden asked. After spending the past few months immersed in military procedures and doctrine he wanted to try and maintain it.

"No. Hackett and Anderson can't talk about it because they can't guarantee security."

"How will we be able to communicate? Are we really going to be in deep cover in our own military?" Kaiden asked.

"You have to remember that Cerberus is a human group. Anyone in the Alliance could be one of them. Tali, Shiala and I have been attacked twice by Cerberus operatives. I was attacked by a group of marines who were found to be a part of Cerberus.

"Udina was a Cerberus informant."

"That I can believe." Ashley snorted.

"Here." Harry placed a pair of syringes on the table with two armbands. "These are geth nanites. If you inject them and put the armbands on they will install neural devices that will modify your bodies so you can use a special type of biological QEC and connect with the geth. We can use these to communicate covertly.

"Shiala and Tali are both wearing them now and they should be online in just under a month."

"You want me to put a computer in my brain?" Ashley asked in disgust.

"Hey!" Kaiden took offence. "Biotic implant." He tapped his head.

"My point stands."

"Do this and you'll be able to talk to Shepard at any time." Harry pointed out.

"You're a bastard Harry." Ashley growled as she snatched up the injector. She paused with the nozzle over her skin. "Can we turn these things off?"

"No, but the geth don't eavesdrop. They understand privacy." Harry blushed a deep hue.

Kaiden laughed as he injected himself. "Come on Harry, don't hold out on us."

"Tali kissed me and nearly brought down two geth drop ships." He snapped.

"The girl made her move?!" Ashley quickly injected herself with a smile. "I definitely need to talk to her."

"Don't tell me you were making bets too?" Harry whined. "It was bad enough when Sha'ira presented us with a cut of the winnings from her acolytes pool."

"Let's just say that I will need times, dates and specific words and actions… but I guess the geth will tell me in a month." She smirked as she put the armband on.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: **And now, because I am so nice, Mass Effect 2: Harry Gets a Dog to Play With.

(But no more till tomorrow.)

* * *

><p>Shepard was instantly alert. He could see the lid of his stasis tube being lifted away. Leaning over him was a very beautiful brunette.<p>

Unfortunately it wasn't Ash.

"Captain Shepard? Can you hear me? How are you feeling?" She asked loudly, with an almost professional manner.

"I can hear you just fine. I'm feeling a bit curious as to why there is Cerberus agent standing over me." He said with a quizzical look.

"How did you know I was Cerberus?" She asked in shock.

He just nodded to her chest.

She looked down and saw the Cerberus logo over her left breast… just next to the rather ample cleavage.

"Of course." She sighed. She stepped away from the vertical pod and gestured for the Captain to exit. "My name is Miranda Lawson. I _am_ with Cerberus. We just rescued you from what appeared to be a pirate attack."

"Pirates attacked an _Alliance_ ship?" He asked sceptically.

"You weren't on an Alliance ship." She explained. "It was a private ship on its way to the Citadel."

"Ok… does someone want to explain why there are Cerberus agents on what looks like an imitation of the Normandy?" He asked as he looked around the hanger he was in. "Not to mention why I was in that pod and how I got here. Last I remember I was plummeting to the surface of Alchera." He said calmly.

"You were picked up by the geth. They beat us to you by mere hours." She explained, she seemed a little bit peeved. "I'm afraid the Normandy was lost with several crew members. The geth managed to rebuild you. We have been tracking you for some time but have only recently managed to get close.

"If that pirate ship hadn't attacked then we would have approached you on the Citadel."

"The geth rebuilt me?"

"From what we understand, yes."

"It took them two years to rebuild the Emissary. How long has it been now?" He asked. He was trying very hard to keep his cool.

"I'm afraid you have been out for around nine months."

Shepard let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. It wasn't as bad as he thought. "What was I doing on a private ship? The Emissary would have arranged for a geth ship to take me."

"Unfortunately we don't have that information. All we know is that it was to be done quietly."

"You are spying on my friends?" Shepard asked dangerously.

Miranda was not impressed. "We are a covert group dedicated to ensuring humanities survival. We spy on all diplomats. Just like the Alliance does."

Shepard wasn't going to bother attempting to refute that one.

"Fine, why does Cerberus want to talk to me and just how many of you am I going to have to kill in order to get back to the Citadel?"

"If, after you have heard our offer, you still wish to go to the Citadel and decline our offer, we will take you and drop you off. All we ask is that you speak with the Illusive Man."

"Ah yes, the author of that manifesto on humanity's need to be superior." He scoffed.

"Every other species out there is seeking their own way to stay on top. If humans don't try then they will be enslaved. The turians tried it, the batarians tried it and now the Reapers and Collectors are trying it." She said as she led him to the elevator.

"The asari are attempting cooperation, as are the salarians and geth. The quarians are just trying to survive." He countered.

Shepard frowned. This lift was taking far too long.

He was going to kill Harry for spoiling him with speedy lifts.

And making him call them 'lifts' instead of 'elevators'.

Miranda waved a dismissive hand. "Some prefer the stick, others the carrot. It all amounts to the same thing."

"God this lift is taking ages." Shepard groaned.

"I'm sorry, does my scent offend you?" She asked tightly.

"I was referring to the fact that unless this ship is a mile high… we should have arrived at where ever it is you are taking me."

"This is the standard speed for a ship-board lift." She could say 'lift'… she was an Aussie. Queen's English and all that.

"See? We've arrived." She indicated the opening door.

Miranda led him out into what was clearly a replicated CIC from the Normandy as it was based on the turian design. She then took him through a door marked Tech Lab. The lab was through a short corridor and was full of various devices.

Shepard had no idea what those devices were but he was quickly being informed by the geth in his head.

Turning through a door on the left they entered another corridor. In the middle of the corridor was another door that led to the Conference Room.

She leaned casually against the wall outside and gestured into the dark room. "He's waiting for you."

"Of course he is." He muttered as he calmly walked in.

There was a circle of light on the floor that Shepard recognised as a holographic projection circle used by QEC devices. He stepped inside and found himself staring at a man lounging in a chair, dressed in a stylish suit. He had an OSD in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other.

The room he was sitting in was quite large but empty. There were projections of stars and nebulae all around.

"Captain Shepard, it's good to finally meet you." The man said casually.

"I'm surprised you would want to be anywhere near me." Shepard retorted. "I did spend a fair amount of time hunting your people down."

"Not my people, Captain. They went rogue and were not working in the interests of Cerberus or humanity.

"But I didn't bring you here to hash out the past." He said as he laid his cigarette in the ashtray on the small table next to him. "There is a bigger threat to humanity out there. To the entire galaxy.

"I spent a lot of time and money in searching for you. I had invested a lot of money in determining ways to revive you. The geth actually saved us a lot of time, money and resources.

"All three of which will be needed in the comin-"

"Listen, I've just woken up from stasis having thought I was going to die a painful death burning in Alchera's atmosphere." Shepard interrupted impatiently. "I have been told in vague terms that several of my crew died and that it has been nine months. Cut the monologue and skip to the chase."

Harry was a bad, _bad_ influence on him.

Shepard tried not to smirk as he saw the Illusive Man's face tighten momentarily.

"Very well. Various human colonies have been going missing over the past few months. Over night the colonists vanish. No maydays or distress signals are sent. No clothes, food or vehicles are taken. No signs of a struggle are left.

"It is a complete mystery.

"We believe it may be a pre-cursor to the Reaper invasion and I want you to help me save our colonies and stop the Reapers."

"Why me? Why not go to the Council or the Alliance?"

"The Council refuses to get involved. They claim that it is a purely human matter.

"Both the Council and the Alliance have been covering up the Reapers and denying their existence. They have been blaming the whole thing on Saren and the geth."

"The geth have been proven to be peaceful." Shepard argued.

"The geth that they call 'heretics'." He amended.

Shepard just nodded. "I assume the reason I wasn't taken to the Citadel on an Alliance ship is because they want to keep me quiet. Just like they sent me to the Omega System in the first place."

"That is what we believe.

"The ship you are currently on is based on the original Normandy class frigate, as you have no doubt noticed. It is of course, significantly improved.

"It is yours to command. It has a good crew and is just what you need if you intend to stay your original path and take the fight to the Reapers.

"I have assembled several dossiers on possible team members. Miranda has the details."

"I had a team, and a ship."

"'Had' being the operative word, Shepard. Your ship is gone and your team is scattered to the winds."

"Then I can find them. We spilt blood together, both ours and our enemies. They will at least listen."

The Illusive Man nodded slowly. "I can understand that. But I will warn you that the galaxy has not been idle whilst you slept. For some of your former team, their immediate priorities have changed."

This time Shepard nodded slowly.

"Do what you need to Shepard, but remember that the clock is ticking. The Reapers will come and we can't allow ourselves to get caught up in sentimental causes.

"I will send any relevant data through Miranda."

The room began to dissolve as the lights on the Normandy came on. Shepard backed out of the circle and a conference table rose out of the floor.

Shepard turned and exited the room. He found Miranda still lounging against the wall.

"Set a course for the Citadel. I need to make a few calls."

"Of course, Shepard. Can I ask if you have accepted the Illusive Man's offer?"

"For now. I need to confirm a few things but if they turn out like I fear they will, then I will be working with you."

"I will show you to your quarters. You can make calls from there."

* * *

><p>After showing Shepard to 'The Loft' where a fairly luxurious apartment was set up, Miranda had recommended that he tour the ship and meet the crew after he had finished his calls.<p>

He quickly accessed the terminal and began looking for a specific sports forum. Then he posted what appeared to be gibberish.

He then opened up a communications line.

It took a bit but it was soon answered.

"Joker? It's Shepard."

"_Captain? Where the hell are you? You were supposed to arrive at the Citadel an hour ago… and you were supposed to be asleep."_ Came the irreverent pilot's voice.

"Apparently the ship I was on was attacked by pirates. A Cerberus ship picked up my pod."

"_Is it me or does that just stink of convenience?"_ He asked sarcastically.

"No argument here. I'm playing things by ear for now, is it true that the Alliance is trying to cover up Sovereign?"

"_Worse, they grounded me Captain. I turned in my bars. It was bad enough when they started making claims about you being delusional… but grounding me? Flying is all I have!"_ He said forlornly.

"Well I just happen to have a ship destined for treacherous waters. I could use a good pilot." He said hopefully.

"_Hell! I don't care if it's a cargo pod with a thruster array as long as you let me fly."_ Joker said enthusiastically.

Shepard smiled. "Meet me at the embassy reception. I'll need to speak to Anderson and the Council first. I'll be arriving in… two hours." He said as he checked the console.

"_I'll be there Captain!"_

Shepard sighed tiredly as the connection closed. He then closed his eyes and waited.

* * *

><p>Inside Shepard's brain a unique reaction was taking place. An untraceable, undetectable connection was being made to a special geth hub in a cluster far away. At the same time several other connections were already in place.<p>

With his eyes closed, Shepard found himself sitting in the conference room of the old Normandy.

All around him were his team: Harry, Ash, Kaiden, Liara, Garrus, Tali, Shiala, Doctor Chakwas and Joker.

"You know you could have kept the link open." Harry said pointedly from his chair.

"I didn't want to have to deal with certain distractions." He glared at Harry and Joker.

"Shepard, keep it open. At least until the others have joined you." Ashley practically pleaded.

"Fine. It will only be for a few hours." He sighed. "Harry, how are you doing?" He asked with concern.

"Hanging in there." Harry grinned cheekily.

Currently, Harry Potter was literally hanging onto the hull of the Cerberus ship as they headed to the Citadel. He had insisted on being close to Shepard just in case something went wrong.

"And the 'Pirates' and crew of the ship that was transporting me?"

"The ship transporting you was being remotely controlled by the geth. The _'Pirates',_" He said with sarcastic air-quotes, "immediately put in a request to continue working as undercover pirates."

"You gonna let 'em?" Joker asked.

"Hell no! Chief Adams has a weird sense of humour. He kept pretending he was Black Beard. I swear I saw him hiding an eye patch."

Shepard decided to ignore that.

"I've started an upload of everything I saw." He said.

"And the geth have already pulled up something interesting." Harry maintained that annoying grin. "They managed to pull facial recognition on this so-called Illusive Man.

"Meet one Jack Harper." He said as a rotating 3D image of the Illusive Man appeared in the middle of the 'room'.

"How did you find that?" Liara was amazed.

"They did a standard search on facial recognition. He did a good job of cleaning the Extranet but the geth are like rabid librarians! They store their own copies of what they learn. They have 300 years of data stored over multiple redundant databases."

"Who is this Harper?" Kaiden asked.

"A former mercenary. He was on Shanxi during the invasion. Soon after the First Contact war ended, he published his little manifesto and Cerberus began to appear."

"So what's the plan, Skipper?" Ash asked.

"I'm going to pick up Harry and Joker at the Citadel, meet Anderson and talk to the Council. Hopefully I'll be able to drop in on Liara as well."

"Shepard, another colony has gone dark." Tali said worriedly. "Freedom's Progress. Shiala and I were headed there to try and talk to another quarian on a pilgrimage. We should arrive in a few hours."

"Damn." Shepard swore. "Joker, be at the dock with the info. We won't be staying around. We'll pick you up and head straight to the colony.

"Tali, we'll be there as soon as we can." He promised. "I need to go before they get suspicious. We'll meet again after we've seen the colony."

* * *

><p>As Shepard returned to the real world his computer pinged. He saw what appeared to a gibberish response to his own post.<p>

He allowed himself a small smile.

He headed to the elevator and took it down to the CIC.

He cursed every second wasted in that wretched vehicle.

He was met by a young woman who was manning a console near the galaxy map.

The woman was a red head and _far_ too perky.

"Captain Shepard, I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers." She beamed. "I'll be your PA as well as seeing to the mental needs of the crew during the mission."

"Yeoman." He said neutrally. "You understand that any mission I embark on is likely to be fraught with danger and that the odds of survival are not only low but nearly guaranteed to end messily?"

She stood up straight at attention. "Yes sir. The whole crew is aware sir. Everyone on board holds great respect for you. Many even quit the Alliance when they began to abandon you."

"At ease, Yeoman." Kelly relaxed slightly. "You were Alliance?"

"No sir, I was recruited by Cerberus as soon as I graduated university."

"And you have no problem with Cerberus' anti-alien views?"

"I would argue that we aren't anti-alien… Sir." She added belatedly.

"Oh?"

"We are pro-human. There is a huge difference. Just because we focus on humanity doesn't mean we have ill intent towards others."

"Very well." Shepard gave her a small smile that made her relax. "Where can I find Miranda?"

"Crew Deck sir, take the elevator down one level and her office is behind the kitchens."

"One last thing, are we still on course for the Citadel?"

"Yes sir."

"Have the helmsman increase the speed. An emergency has arisen that is within our remit. We will be heading to Freedom's Progress as soon as we have picked up a team member. I will update the galaxy map before we reach the Citadel."

* * *

><p>After once again suffering the personal hell known as the elevator, Shepard exited onto the Crew Deck and after a bit of searching found Miranda's office.<p>

"We are heading to Freedom's Progress in the Terminus Systems." He got straight to the point. "I've received a report from my sources that it has just gone dark."

"How did you hear that? I've only just received the intel from the Illusive Man myself!" She asked suspiciously.

"I am a Spectre and an N7 Operative, Miss Lawson. It is my job to know these things."

* * *

><p>As they reached the Widow System where the Citadel sat, Shepard watched through the cockpit windows to see if Joker was waiting.<p>

He smiled in relief as he saw the pilot being followed by floating luggage. It was something Harry and Tali had put together for the brittle bone sufferer.

"Captain, I'd salute but I might break something." Joker grinned as he exited the airlock.

"We'll catch up later Joker, take the helm and get us to Freedom's Progress as fast as you can."

"Sir?" The current pilot asked with surprise and offence.

"Woah! Gibson?" Joker said in shock.

"Sir, do you realise that this ma-"

"If you have a problem Lieutenant you can stay behind. Joker is the best. There is only one person better than Joker and he will be joining us as soon as possible.

"Joker will be in charge of the helm and pilots. He can't sit in that chair all day." Shepard said firmly.

"I could… but the stench." Joker grimaced.

Lieutenant Gibson stormed out of the cockpit angrily.

"You can tell me the story later, Joker. We need to get to Freedom's Progress."

"Give me five minutes to figure out this babies curves and I'll have you an ETA."

"Miss Lawson, does this ship have the equivalent of a marine detachment?" Shepard turned the brunette.

"No, all crew members are trained but at the moment the only field members are myself and Jacob Taylor."

"Very well, I assume you have armour and weapons prepared for me?"

"This way." She said tightly as she walked to the back of the CIC and the door marked: Armoury.

Inside was a tall black man just an inch or so shy of Shepard.

"Captain Shepard, meet Operative Jacob Taylor." Miranda introduced them formally.

Jacob snapped to attention and saluted.

Out of instinct, Shepard returned it. "Alliance?"

"Not for a few months, sir. I resigned when the Alliance began whitewashing the whole Reaper deal." He said, still at attention.

"I hear that might be the case of quite a few of the crew."

"Many were recruited as they showed a certain amount of loyalty to you personally, even though they never met you." Miranda explained.

"At ease Operative Taylor. We are currently travelling at best possible speed to a colony in the Terminus Systems called 'Freedom's Progress'. We don't know what we will encounter but at best we are expecting an abandoned colony.

"We need to be suitably prepared."

"We've got a full load out, sir." Jacob gestured to the weapons that looked ready for inspection. "Top of the line armour and weapons. Just tell me your preferences and I'll make sure they're ready."

"This is a fairly small group." Shepard sighed as he leaned against a table. "I've worked with less but I refuse to risk the safety of the galaxy on poor odds and an oversized ego.

"I understand you have some dossiers for me to look at?" He turned to Miranda.

She handed him the OSD she was carrying.

Shepard flicked through the names and basics. "An assassin, a murderer, a thief, a mercenary, a krogan guilty of heinous acts of experimentation… Cerberus really isn't interested in keeping up a good appearance, are they?" He said dryly.

"They may not have the most sparkling of resumes, but they are all the very best." Miranda countered.

"None of these seem particularly suited to teamwork. Harry, take a look."

Shepard held the OSD to the side and released it.

Jacob and Miranda immediately flared their biotics defensively as it seemed to float in mid-air. "Who's there?" Miranda demanded.

"Jumpy lot, aren't they?" Harry snorted as he dropped his cloak and revealed himself.

"How did you get on board?" Miranda asked, still keeping her biotics ready.

"I walked." Harry grinned. "These people better have some damned good incentives to work together or this mission is doomed." Harry told Shepard as he handed the OSD back.

"Who are you?" Miranda asked.

"Meet Harry Potter." Shepard smiled. "If this mission is going to succeed it will be because he is on the team."

"And the only team I'll be on is Shepard's." Harry nodded firmly. "Which means the mission will only succeed if Shepard's team is on the job."

"_Captain, our ETA is about four hours. Could you come up to the cockpit? There is something you need to see."_ Joker called over the intercom.

"On our way."

Shepard headed for the door with Harry and Miranda right behind him.

There was a very annoyed Joker arguing with a glowing ball of light.

"I'm the pilot, I am responsible for the ship. I don't trust AIs." He glared at the ball.

"That statement seems erroneous, you are known to have worked closely with the geth." Came a female voice.

"The geth aren't AI's, they're digital life forms. Big difference." Joker said dismissively.

"Joker, making friends already?" Shepard asked.

"Did you know Cerberus was messing with AIs, Captain?"

"No, and I really can't see the wisdom in having one controlling the ship." He turned to Miranda.

"EDI is a fully shackled AI. She is limited in what she can do. Her priorities involve manning the cyber warfare systems in combat."

"EDI?" Harry asked.

"Enhanced Defence Intelligence." EDI responded.

"Oh Merlin, someone was trying to be clever with acronyms." Harry groaned. "Remind me to tell you about S.P.E.W." He told Joker.

Joker thought for a second. "Spew?"

"God no!" Harry said as though he was scandalised. "S.P.E.W."

"That one I've got to hear." Joker chuckled.

"Joker, try not to let the AI interfere with your duties. We'll make sure Harry and Tali take a look at it."

"You still intend to try and rebuild your old team? You are rejecting the other dossiers out of hand?" Miranda asked, her attitude was one of disgust.

"Out of hand?" Shepard smirked. "In what way is placing the safety of billions of innocents in the hands of a psychotic murderer, a good thing?"

"If she is appropriately motivated-"

"I really don't think we want to hear the rest of that sentence." Harry sighed.

"It doesn't matter." Shepard said. "We will approach these people, evaluate them and build the team as we go. For now we have a mission to prep for. Harry, I'll join you in the hanger once I am geared up and we'll inspect the ground vehicles."

* * *

><p>"You people are very good at what you do." Harry mused as he stood in the hanger with Shepard, Miranda and Jacob. "Torture, inhuman experimentation, murder, assassination and now theft.<p>

"First you steal the designs for the Normandy and now the Stingray."

"Harry, there is no way it is better than our Stingray." Shepard assured him as he patted the young wizard's armoured shoulder.

"Damn straight." Harry muttered as he climbed into the small ship.

Despite the external frame being identical to the Stingray class of geth ship, it was painted in Cerberus colours: White, grey and yellow. Something that really stuck in Harry's craw.

Inside, the ship was as different from the Stingray as the Dog Star was to the Normandy.

'Cramped' was the only applicable adjective.

"Harry-"

"I know, I know, I'll make some calls and have something appropriate delivered to replace this monstrosity." Harry grumbled as he literally squeezed into the pilot's seat.

"_Captain, just thought you should know, there is an asari frigate and what appears to be a quarian ship in orbit. The quarians appear to be trying to board the frigate." _Joker announced over the radio.

"Can you identify the frigate?"

"_It's the Tiger-Lilly, sir."_

"The Tiger-Lilly?" Miranda asked in surprise. "That is one of the ships commissioned by the Emissary and the geth. If we could get a look inside-"

"We would be guilty of numerous crimes including pissing off Tali and Shiala." Harry piped up as he headed for the planet.

"I don't care how Cerberus does things, I am not about to break laws and insult my friends just to sate Cerberus and their disgusting fetishes." Shepard said in stonily. "Joker, harass the quarians but don't do any permanent damage."

"_Aye, aye sir."_

* * *

><p>Harry set them down at the colony spaceport and they quickly disembarked.<p>

"Harry, you have the lead." Shepard said quietly.

"On it." Harry confirmed as he vanished from sight.

Shepard's eyes were far beyond anything Cerberus could imagine. Whilst Harry was invisible to nearly everything, he was still able to track Harry using methods that only Harry, the geth and the Reapers knew about.

"Captain, is it wise to send him off alone?" Jacob asked with concern.

"If I don't _send_ him off he'll just _run_ off." Shepard groused.

"_I'm picking up multiple life forms… and weapon's fire."_ Harry reported over the comm. lines.

"Can you identify them?"

"_One group is an asari and a quarian against another group of quarians."_

"We want the group with the asari then. I assume that will be Tali and Shiala."

"_You back them up and I'll go and have words with the Bosh'tets shooting at them."_

Shepard mused to himself that it was a good thing that Ashley wasn't around. She would have been thundering after Harry, both to kick his arse for going off alone and the quarians for shooting at her friends.

Shepard's team quietly slunk through the portable, modular housing units that most colonies were made up of. Shepard knocked on the door to one of the units where Harry had indicated the girls were.

"Tali, Shiala, its Shepard." He hissed.

There was a pause before the door opened and a gloved hand shot out and dragged him inside.

Miranda and Jacob quickly followed with their guns out.

Shepard was caught up in an emotional embrace with his two friends as they hugged him tightly.

"Captain… this may not be-"

"Shut up, child. This is important." Shiala snapped over her shoulder.

"Why does _he_ get a hug? What about me?" Harry asked as he poked his head through the broken window frame the girls had been firing through.

"You bosh'tet!" Tali squealed as she deactivated her helmet and threw herself at Harry.

After a second or two Shepard was a little concerned. "Is that… normal for them?" He asked as the young couple were glued at the mouth.

"It has been several months since they saw each other." Shiala smiled fondly.

"I didn't even know they were dating."

"Literally hours before the Normandy was hit." She said sadly.

"About time if you ask me."

"You're only saying that because you won the pool." She smirked.

"Maybe we should leave them to it and check on the quarians. See how badly Harry dealt with them." Shepard said as he carefully edged around the passionate pair.

Shiala just laughed as she followed. Miranda and Jacob were clearly unsure about what was happening, but followed anyway.

In a unit across the way were a bunch of tied up quarians.

"I knew those traitors couldn't be trusted." One of the male quarians snarled as he saw them. "Working with Cerberus. Did Zorah give them her personal codes to the fleet?" He sneered.

"Oh? What happened?" Shepard asked Shiala.

"Cerberus attacked the quarian flotilla as we were leaving. Tali, Wrex and I actually saved the Flotilla." She said calmly.

"You stole one of our ships!" The quarian shouted.

"Really?" Shepard asked intrigued.

"Those bastards stole my ship, locked me and Tali up and then pulled my ship apart. I took their ship as payment."

"Seems fair." Shepard shrugged. "So, Miranda, Jacob, why attack the Flotilla? What heinous crime did a floating city of civilians commit?" He asked with a hint of snark.

"I wouldn't say we attacked them-"

"What do you think anyone else would say when we show them the visual records of the event?" Shiala asked with a superior smile.

Miranda cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I am not privy to the details of every Cerberus project." She said diplomatically. "I'm sure there were valid reasons."

"What if there weren't?"

Miranda and Jacob spun around to see Harry standing there with his arm around the waist of a gorgeous and very famous quarian woman.

"I have complete faith in the Illusive Man." She said as firmly as she could. Too firmly, to be honest.

"So you think there is justification for firing on innocent civilians, setting thresher maws on alliance soldiers in peace time, experimenting on the survivors and setting rachni on alliance bases?"

"Like I said, I trust the Illusive Man." It was slight, but they all saw her swallow.

"I tell you what." Shepard said thoughtfully. "If you can get a rational and _ethical_ explanation for any of those events then I'll drop the subject. Otherwise… we may eventually have to part ways… messily."

"And 'rogue agents' won't cut it." Harry added with a smirk.

"We should also be allowed to tour several Cerberus facilities." Shiala said quickly.

"I can't authorise anything… but I will attempt to speak with the Illusive Man." She said carefully.

"Good. Now Tali, Shiala, what are the two of you and these fools doing here?" He gestured to the tied up quarians.

"Shiala and I have spent the past few months trying to track down quarians on their pilgrimage. We have been offering them the cure to the suits and a place on Rannoch."

"You're living on Rannoch now? And can I just say you are gorgeous." He gave her a fond smile.

"Hands off John." Harry gave a mock glare. "She's all mine."

Tali slapped Harry's armoured chest but ignored him. "Thank you, Shepard. We finally got the Liberated onto Rannoch where they are settling in nicely."

"I'm sorry, who are the Liberated?"

"That's what Tali single handedly named the former Hegemony slaves." Harry said proudly. "It doesn't matter what race they are, human, quarian, batarian, asari, turian, salarian… they all proudly call themselves The Liberated. They display their former slave marks as a badge of honour."

"You can explain further later." Shepard said, he was quite impressed.

Despite being in digital communication with his team over the past few months whilst the geth finished his body, they had kept him in the dark about a lot of things. They wanted his reactions to be natural when Cerberus saw them.

Like Harry, he was constantly being bombarded by data from the geth about everything he saw though.

"So I assume there was a quarian on this planet?" He got to the point.

"Yes, Veetor is actually the last on our list." Shiala explained. "We came as fast as we could when we couldn't get in contact with the colony and discovered that it was deserted. This has been happening a lot, Captain." She said seriously.

"What makes you think this Veetor is still here?" Jacob asked.

"The difference between this colony and the others is that the defence systems have been activated." Shiala explained, she was a little curt when addressing the man wearing Cerberus colours.

"And the cameras are following our movements." Tali said with an amused smile to Shepard.

Shepard just beamed at her. "I've missed you all. And it's only been a few hours since I woke up." He laughed.

"Let's go find this Veetor then." Harry suggested.

"What about the quarians?" Jacob asked.

"They landed on a human colony and fired weapons at an asari. We will take them to the Citadel and let the Council argue over jurisdiction." Shiala stated.

"They also tried to board your ship." Harry said with a slight wince.

Shiala's biotics flared angrily. "Those goddess be damned bastards!" She roared angrily. She stormed over and grabbed the mouthy quarian around the throat and hoisted him to his feet. "Your ship is mine now, fool!"

"I'll ask Harry for the story later." Shepard sighed as Harry calmly pulled the asari away from the terrified soldier.

"Go help Shepard and Tali with Veetor." Harry ordered.

Shiala had to resist the urge to call him 'Master'.

With those three gone he turned to Miranda and Jacob. "Help me get this bunch to the space port. Joker will have to land as they won't all fit on the Stingray."

"What exactly is your problem with our Stingray?" Miranda asked irritably as they got to work. "It was created on the Alliance specs."

"The Alliance version was only designed to handle a small team on specific recon missions. Our Stingray was capable of taking on several Normandy class frigates, carrying a large team and a whole lot more."

"That would make the Stingray nearly twenty times as big as the specs say."

"Which is why we use a geth version modified by the Emissary. Magic is bloody amazing." He said wistfully.

"How do you know all this? There is no record of you being anywhere near the Normandy. The first we heard of you was when you appeared on the ship."

"Just because there were no records doesn't mean I wasn't there." Harry smirked. "I am very good at what I do, but what I do is secrecy."

"You're a hacker!" Jacob said suddenly. "You erased all traces of yourself."

"One of my many talents." Harry shrugged.

Eventually they reached the port. The Cerberus ship was waiting there, their Stingray having been loaded back onboard.

Next to the Cerberus ship were two other ships, the Tiger-Lilly and the quarian vessel. Standing outside the ship were several geth platforms.

"Hello boys. No trouble with the pirates then?" Harry called out.

"Negative. We allowed them to board as per Shiala's instructions and incapacitated them. We then used their shuttle and codes to take over their frigate." A large geth prime explained in his synthetic voice.

It had taken a while but they were slowly dropping the honorifics when appropriate.

"We are not pirates you digital scum." The mouthy quarian male spat.

"Have you taken their DNA profiles?" Harry asked, ignoring the idiot.

"Affirmative. The exclusions have been entered."

"Exclusions for what?" Miranda asked.

"Standard orders and laws for the quarians is that anyone from the Flotilla who attacks the geth or the quarians of Rannoch is denied the right to the suit cure." Harry explained. "It is their punishment on top of whatever standard sentence is issued."

"We would _never_ want your cure." Mouthy spat.

"Good, because we never want to give it to you. Now shut up." Harry glared.

Whilst Harry and the geth loaded the quarians onto the Tiger-Lilly and into the holding cells, Miranda and Jacob were forced to wait outside.

Harry was _not_ going to let Cerberus agents onto his friend's ship.

"Miranda, anything interesting happen?" Shepard asked he walked up with the others and a new quarian who looked fairly jumpy.

"The geth arrived and captured the quarians and their ship. We can take them to a Cerberus facility for study and interrogation." She stated.

"That ship is mine, girl." Shiala said warningly. "It is payment for trying to steal my ship… again!"

"And Veetor is coming with us to the Citadel. He needs rest and care. Something I really doubt he'll get from Cerberus." Tali sneered at the agents.

"Shepard, they may know vital-"

"You really don't want to finish that sentence." Shepard sighed. "This is why nobody trusts Cerberus. They lie, steal, murder. The worst part is that you seem to do a majority of it to your own species!"

Shepard turned and headed for the Cerberus ship. "And change the name of this damned ship! It is an insult to the good men and women who died on the original." He called back as he saw the name 'Normandy' on the nose.

* * *

><p>Shepard and Shiala had to literally pry Harry and Tali apart when they arrived at the Citadel. Shiala and Shepard handled the quarians by giving them to C-Sec and pressing charges. Shepard was treated with equal parts awe and disgust as some people remembered all he did to save them and others bought into the Council race's government's claims about him being deluded.<p>

Shiala and Tali where now headed to Haestrom to begin their mission. It had been a suggestion by some of the Liberated that they approach the pilgrims as many of the Liberated were captured during their pilgrimage. The two women had spent the past few months tracking them down and offering them a chance at a cure and a home world.

They had a seventy percent acceptance rate.

"Anderson, Hermione." Shepard greeted the Councillor and portrait as he and Harry entered the Councillor's office.

"It's good to see you well, John." Hermione said sincerely. "I can't say I approve of the company you have found yourself in though." She shuddered.

"You've had problems with Cerberus?" He asked as Anderson poured them all a drink.

"They have sent three separate teams to try and steal me." She scowled. "If Harry hadn't-"

"Hold on, let me secure the office." Harry interrupted quickly.

Two minutes later and Harry was satisfied.

"As I was saying, if it wasn't for Harry's charm work, I would be sitting in a Cerberus lab somewhere being threatened with turpentine."

"Well your office is already fairly secure." Harry assured them both.

"How are you feeling, Shepard?" Anderson asked his former XO.

"Physically: Fine. Mentally: Unnerved." Shepard admitted. "I was warned there would be a lot of changes when I woke up but… Tali without her helmet… geth walking around the Citadel and actually interacting with organics… it is a lot to take in."

"When this is over the Admiral and I will be working to get you your own ship again. You'll be on detachment from the Navy to work primarily as a Spectre."

"I'm still a Spectre then?"

Anderson smiled. "Spectre identities are generally secret. Whenever you reveal yourself to someone any records they keep are automatically deleted. The only place they are stored is in the Spectre Offices where you get your special equipment.

"You and Saren were the only two publicly known spectres."

"What is happening with the colonies?" Shepard asked. "The intel we got from Freedom's Progress shows that the Collectors are able to incapacitate the colonists and cart them off without any shots fired.

"They aren't killing them so what are they up to and what is the Alliance doing to stop it?"

"Their motives are something you will need to discover for us." Anderson said unhappily. "The Alliance is spread fairly thin after the Battle for the Citadel. We have operatives on the colonies who are trying to find out more but… we are very much in the dark."

"I can't say I am looking forward to working with Cerberus." Shepard grimaced. "Their idea of a 'team' involves some of the most mentally questionable people in the galaxy. I still can't tell if the crew of their ship are acting or if they really are just running on blind faith."

"Blind faith." Harry piped up. "I can tell when people are lying. That Miranda, she was very flustered and uncomfortable when you were listing off those Cerberus crimes and she couldn't give reasons."

"I'd prefer you to be there when I next speak to the Illusive Man." He said firmly.

Harry just laughed. "I remember you telling me off the first time I hijacked your Council meetings."

"I'm just not as good at pissing people off as you are." Shepard said dryly.

"What is wrong with their team?" Hermione asked.

"One of them is a psychotic murderer." Harry scoffed. "Cerberus thinks she will be effective if she is 'appropriately motivated'." He said with finger-quotes.

"If she is as bad as we believe then we may just turn her over to the Council." Shepard sighed. "I'm a Spectre, I have a lot of leeway and privileges but enabling murderers is not one of them."

"Where are you headed next?" Anderson asked.

"Omega." Shepard answered. "One of the their dossiers is for Mordin Solus. A salarian who is supposed to be one of the most intelligent and inventive people around. He is actually a decent candidate."

"Plus we can pick up Garrus. He is one of their candidates too but Cerberus doesn't seem to know that. He goes by Archangel." Harry grinned. "He'd never forgive us if we didn't pick him up first."

* * *

><p>"Shepard, good work on Freedom's Progress."<p>

Shepard felt dirty being complimented by this man.

He was standing in the holographic comm. suite. Harry was just out of sight beyond the ring of sensors that sent Shepard's image to the Illusive Man.

"It's a shame we couldn't get the quarian, but the information you were able to extract was enough to prove that the Collectors are behind the abductions."

"I've already informed the Alliance, the Council and the Emissary. They will prepare for attacks from Collectors." Shepard said.

"Yes." The Illusive Man nodded slowly. "I can't say I approve of handing this information out so freely, but you have your methods and I have mine."

"My methods ensure that we aren't working alone against something we can't see. The Collectors already took out the Normandy once, this ship is the same class so it won't stand a chance."

"As I said, you have your methods and we have ours." He repeated. "Generally the Collectors enter the Terminus system to retrieve samples and specimens. They pay slavers and mercs exorbitant amounts of money for them before returning to wherever they come from through the Omega Relay.

"Further proof that they are linked to the Reapers, if they can actually manipulate a relay."

"Why do you believe the Reapers are involved at all?" Shepard asked.

"The evidence is there… buried in the data." He responded evasively. "The Council and the Alliance want to believe the Reaper threat died with Sovereign. You and I know better.

"I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

"As soon as I have my team together I'll deal with the Collectors. If nothing else my people can figure out how to disable the Omega Relay."

"That would be… unwise." The Illusive Man said slowly. "It will only delay things and will close off an avenue of research. Besides, no one else has ever managed to alter a Mass Relay. I doubt it is possible with our technology."

"We don't need to alter it. Just disable it."

Shepard smothered a smile as Harry joined him.

"I can think of several ways to do that off the top of my head."

"This is a private meeting." The Illusive Man informed the newcomer with stern look. "And who are you? I know the names and faces of everyone on that ship and you aren't one of them." He said as he actually rose from his chair and approached the holograms he was seeing.

"I'm an old friend of John's. We go way back and I agreed to rejoin his team." Harry smiled as he held out his hand.

The Illusive Man looked at it glibly. "This is a hologram."

"Well if you're going to be rude." Harry said; seemingly upset.

"We need to be going." Shepard spoke up. "We are headed to Omega to check up on two of your dossiers and an old friend. We'll talk again."

"Shepard!"

But it was too late and the connection was lost.

"You can really disable a Mass Relay?" Shepard turned to Harry.

"Think about it, you don't have to try and control the relay, just… make sure anything that comes through is instantly destroyed. I know for a fact that a Relay can survive the effects of a supernova, it might even be able to survive the heat of the sun. Here's hoping the Reapers can't."

"We'll call that Plan B." Shepard nodded.


	21. Chapter 21

Shepard and Harry were accompanied by Miranda and Jacob when they docked at Omega.

The place was a disgusting tip. Worse than any part of the Wards.

The first thing they came across was a batarian named Fargut who ran off a salarian trying to con them.

"Welcome to Omega… Shepard."

"My identity isn't really a secret." Shepard frowned. "You don't need to seem so smug about recognising me. Or did you want an autograph?"

The batarian grunted in displeasure. "Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. I suggest you go to Afterlife now and present yourself."

"Present ourselves? What is she, royalty?" Harry scoffed.

"She is Omega's Queen, her word is law." Fargut growled menacingly.

"It doesn't matter." Shepard stepped between them. "She might have some good intel."

Shepard led the group, which included a sulking Harry, to the club known as 'Afterlife': Aria's seat of power.

"I thought all the batarian slavers and pirates were incapacitated when y- the Emissary activated their slave chips." Shepard quietly spoke to Harry as they walked.

"Yeah, but most pirates and the like are able to pay to have the chips removed. Sometimes they would even pay the Hegemony."

As they made it past the bouncers at the club's entrance Harry began to grumble. "This is insulting." He muttered to Shepard. "We've just saved you from dying and here you are _still_ entering the Afterlife!"

"The universe loves irony, Harry." Shepard chuckled.

"I bet the Illusive Man took great pleasure in putting Omega on the list of places to recruit people." Harry pouted.

They made it to Aria's private area when they were stopped by more batarians who tried to scan them.

Harry was in a fairly petulant mood and tossed the one with the scanner to the floor, holding him beneath his armoured boot.

They were instantly staring down the barrels of several weapons.

"Harry." Shepard sighed.

"I'm sorry Shepard, but I don't like being scanned without my permission. I definitely don't like having to put up with this stuck up little asari." He glared at Aria.

"I'd put a leash on your little boy Shepard." Aria said calmly. "He has a disease of the mouth and I'd hate to have to put him down for it."

"You really think I'd walk into a place like this and only neutralise _one_ of the people with weapons?" Harry snorted.

Harry stalked up to Aria to the sounds of triggers being pulled.

Miranda and Jacob were shocked when nothing happened.

Aria suddenly found herself staring cross-eyed at the point of a very sharp sword.

"My blade is poisoned. There is no cure." He quickly moved it to her padded shoulders. The material began to melt and Aria scooted away in fright.

"There is only one rule on Omega." She hissed angrily as she slowly stood up. "Don't. Fuck. With. Aria."

She raised her hands… but nothing happened.

Her biotics weren't there.

"Can you guess what my rule is?" Harry asked with a small smirk. "'Kill the fools and save the innocent.'

"You are _no_ innocent… but are you a fool?" Harry asked as he calmly sat down. "Now bring us some drinks and we will talk calmly and civilly."

"I will kill you! I will parade your-"

Aria was suddenly caught in a stasis field, unable to talk or move.

"Someone bring us drinks." He waved a dismissive hand at the batarians. "You two; go find that mercenary you wanted to hire." He ordered Miranda and Jacob.

"You heard him." Shepard said quickly when Miranda went to object.

The pair reluctantly left.

"The rest of you can wait outside." Harry instructed the various guards and patrons in the private area.

None of them were willing to take on someone who had managed to disable their guns and Aria's biotics.

Soon, only Shepard, Harry and an immobile Aria were left.

Harry quickly set up some privacy wards. "It's secure."

"Do we even have the resources to takeover an entire space station?" Shepard asked as he looked over the club through the windows.

"Of course. We have Aria." Harry grinned.

"She doesn't seem very… cooperative." Shepard noted the hateful look she was giving them.

"That's because she doesn't realise the odds are so heavily stacked against her." Harry shrugged.

Harry released Aria and she immediately lunged for him only for Shepard to twist her arm behind her back and hold her still by the neck.

There was a horrible crack as Aria screamed.

"Damn… I broke her arm." Shepard winced.

Harry rolled his eyes and leaned forward, waving his hand over the now useless arm as Shepard carefully grabbed the other one.

"Shepard, why don't you properly introduce me?" Harry said. "Oh, and you didn't just break it… you crushed it."

Shepard felt a bit guilty about that but pushed it aside. "Aria, meet Harry Potter, otherwise known as 'The Emissary'. Leader of the geth, the Quarians of Rannoch and the Free People of Bataria, Krogan Chief of Clan Gatatog and Clan Weyrloc."

Despite the pain, Aria was able to process that and actually went pale.

"You never had a chance, girl." Harry shook his head as he began healing the arm with magic. He gave Shepard a nod and he released her.

"Now, I have no problem with how you came to power on this station. You defeated a powerful krogan at his own games. I also have no quarrel with how you maintain your power over various threats.

"What I do not like is the fact that you actively engage and allow crime on Omega. Whilst you don't participate in slavery yourself, you turn a blind eye to it.

"If you want to remain my figurehead here, you will follow my rules."

Aria was a smart woman.

But she was nearing the Matriarch stage and had become comfortable in her position.

She was torn between the fear of the human who had eliminated the Hegemony in a day and contempt for the male who was a fraction of her age.

"You really think I will just roll over for you?" She sneered.

Harry just smiled, he could see the fear.

"No, I expect that you might try something." He shook his head. "But just remember, I have two whole clans of krogans to call on. I am favoured by the Krogan Overlord." He stood up and leaned into her face. "And I took out a thresher maw with nothing but my sword."

Harry spun away quickly, causing Aria to flinch.

He sat down and adopted a lazy pose on Aria's couch. "Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss." Harry instructed.

"I'd rather stand." She said stiffly, the nervousness was clear though.

"As you want." Harry shrugged. "The rules are very simple. You will still run Omega but you answer to me. You can live the life of luxury if you want it but you won't be doing so off the backs of the innocent.

"Mercenary groups are permitted on Omega as long as they don't commit crimes. You will be responsible for turning Omega into paradise, one you are to defend with an iron fist. Your subjects, Queen Aria, will be treated like beloved family.

"Patriarch is now your military and law enforcement leader. He has agreed not to try and stab you in the back. Mainly because I threatened to deal with him."

"That traitor!" Aria hissed angrily.

"Don't be such a hypocrite." Harry rolled his eyes. "You betrayed him first."

"How do you expect me to turn this dump into paradise?" She sneered.

"With help." Harry said pointedly. "Some of my clans will be coming to work as law enforcement until peace and stability is settled. The geth will work on bringing the station up to code with the quarians. Clean up and refurbishment will be accomplished by teams of geth, quarians and batarians."

"And each one of them will be watching me to make sure I don't turn on you." She guessed.

"Of course not." Harry snorted. "Aside from the geth and krogan, none of them will really be fighters. The krogan will stomp on any criminals and the geth will ensure everyone's safety. If _you_ turn on me I'll just come back and deal with you myself.

"This could be a very good opportunity for you, Aria." Harry reasoned. "This is a chance for you to live like a queen and not have to watch your back all the time. My people are completely loyal to me. The geth and I are one, the krogan respect my strength, the quarians love me and the geth for their cure and the batarians love me for freeing them.

"As long as you follow these very simple rules you can live a life of luxury."

"So I am just going to be a trophy?" She said in disgust.

"You can mete out justice personally if you want. Just make sure the punishment fits the crime. You can go and bust up heads in the bar or put the fear of Aria into mercenaries. I'm just saying you won't have to if you don't want to."

"But I still belong to you."

Harry shot up angrily and was inches away from her. "I don't own _anybody_!" He snarled. "If you want to leave, fine. Leave; take your personal belongings and go wherever you want. Our paths need never cross again."

"Fine, but you've damaged my power base with your little display." She sulked.

"Call all the people who were here back in." Harry said calmly. "I'll alter their memories. Only the three of us and the two Cerberus Agents will remember what happened."

Aria frowned but leaned out of the doorway and said a few words to her guard.

Very shortly they were all nervously assembled. Harry waved his hand and removed their memories; it was as if they had never seen Harry and Shepard enter.

"Hold!" Aria said loudly as one of the guards went grab Shepard. "They're cleared." She stated.

"But-"

"Just watch the doors and make sure we aren't disturbed." She ordered.

The guard looked unsure, but nodded and redirected the others.

"Good work." Harry nodded. "Just so you know, I have secured this couch with my powers. You can hold private conversations and no one will be able to tell what you are talking about."

"Fine. Is this the only reason you came to my station? To claim it?" She demanded.

"Fringe benefit. I have friends here and I want them to be able to enjoy life. Other friends have been trying to clean up the crime.

"Now, Shepard has questions. You might have the answers or at least helpful information." Harry stood up and moved to the side of the couch.

"We came for three people. A mercenary named Zaeed Massani, a doctor called Mordin Solus and Archangel. What do you know and where can we find them?" Shepard asked in a professional manner.

Aria rolled her eyes. "Whilst Zaeed is here on business and has very little influence on Omega, Mordin and Archangel are two of the main forces for trying to clean the place up.

"If you take them then you will be removing the resources needed to move forward with your plans for the place."

"I'll make sure they aren't missed. The krogan I am sending will pick up the slack for Archangel and the geth are excellent at medicine." Harry promised.

"Fine. I heard that Massani had caught his target. You will probably find him around the docks. Mordin is trapped in the Gozu District. The area has been quarantined due to a plague that affects everyone except humans and vorcha.

"He is very dedicated and won't be easy to convince to leave his clinic.

"Archangel is holed up in the Kima District. The various mercenary groups got fed up with him interfering with their business and have finally cornered him. I'd deal with him first if you want him alive."

"Can you make sure station security knows not to impede us?" Shepard asked.

"Fine." She said tiredly. "Though I doubt they would slow you down."

"Your drinks." A salarian waiter said as he entered the area.

"Excellent!" Harry grinned. He picked up a glass and saluted her. "To your continued health and prosperity." He then downed it in one shot. "Because if you attempt to poison me again… you'll have neither." He smiled dangerously.

The small smile that had been creeping onto Aria's lips vanished and her eyes widened.

"It doesn't actually taste that bad." Shepard mused as he sniffed his empty glass. "I'll have to get some for the bar in my quarters."

"See you later, Aria." Harry said as he stood and walked jauntily off with Shepard in tow.

Once they were a safe distance away Shepard turned to Harry as they walked. "Will the nanites be able to handle all forms of poison?"

"Poison, yes. Things like acid are another matter." Harry grimaced. "They can stop it and eventually reverse the damage but they can't stop the initial corrosion."

"So drinking poison is fine, acid is asking for trouble." Shepard nodded.

"So, Archangel first?" Harry asked.

"Like you said, he'd be upset if we didn't pick him up first." Shepard chuckled. "Looks like those two found their mercenary. What's your opinion on using him?" He asked as they approached the table where they were sitting.

"Let's be blunt. Save subtlety for the enemy." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Blunt it is." Shepard nodded. The two sat down at the table. "Zaeed Massani, co-founder of the Blue Suns 'Private Security Group'. Most of your group's actions have been of a criminal nature, including attacking Alliance vessels and kidnapping-"

"All done after that bastard Vido tried to kill me." Zaeed interrupted. "I had nothing to do with that. I fought with the Alliance during the First Contact War." He spat. "Vido wanted to hire batarians… god damned slavers."

Shepard looked to Harry.

"Good enough for me." Harry shrugged.

Shepard nodded and turned back to the Zaeed. "We are about to head off to try and recruit Archangel. He's holding off a bunch of mercenary groups that are unhappy with his interference in their crimes. Blue Suns is among them. You can come with us or you can head to the Normandy and settle in."

"_My_ Blue Suns are long dead." Zaeed stated in his South African accent. "I just want to avenge them by putting these imposters down and the man who betrayed me." He growled. "Cerberus said you'd help with that."

Shepard and Harry looked at Miranda and Jacob with disappointment.

"Well _that_ little titbit wasn't in the dossiers." Harry said dryly. "Is this going to be the case for all of your candidates?"

"A certain quid pro quo is required to ensure the services of some of our recommendations." Miranda admitted uneasily.

"Mr. Massani, I cannot promise to help you. My mission involves saving billions of lives, including your own. If it is possible, we will help though." Shepard assured him.

Zaeed seemed torn. The man was clearly set on revenge.

"Fine. Sounds like you might be able to get me close enough to my goal. I'll stay on until your mission is finished or I see an opportunity I can't pass up." Zaeed nodded.

Harry resisted the urge to comment on the old man's priorities.

"Then let's go meet Archangel." Shepard declared as he stood.

"We might have a way of gaining intelligence and taking out some of the mercenaries." Miranda offered. "The room over there holds a recruiting officer for the Blue Suns. They are looking for… cannon fodder to throw at Archangel." She said with a grimace.

"You three do that. I'll head straight to Archangel and warn him of your arrival." Harry agreed.

"The mercs have the whole district sealed off." Jacob warned. "It will be nearly impossible to get in undetected."

"Nearly impossible is not the same as impossible." Harry smiled. "After all, I did sneak onto your ship."

* * *

><p>Harry hadn't bothered with shuttles or walking. He had cast a disillusionment charm on a broomstick from Diagon Alley he kept in a small, expanded bag and then activated his cloak before flying towards the Kima District.<p>

It wasn't hard to find Archangel as he just had to follow the mercenaries who were all heading towards him.

Harry landed on the second floor through an open window that looked over a bridge that acted as a bottle neck for the approaching mercs.

The blue clad Archangel could have passed for one of the Blue Suns if weren't for the fact that he was frequently sniping their heads off.

"Didn't you have a team?"

Archangel jumped, his sniper rifle swinging round to aim at the new voice.

"Spirits Harry!" Archangel snapped as he retracted his helmet to reveal Garrus Vakarian. "I've been holed up in here for days and you choose creeping up on me as a way of saying 'Hi'?" He demanded.

"Sorry, sorry." Harry said apologetically. "But seriously, you had a team, right?"

"_Had_ a team. It is a very long and depressing story that I have been trying not to remember. I've just been trying to survive until you or Shepard came."

"Well Shepard is on his way. He's 'joining up' with the mercenaries." He said with air-quotes.

"I guess we could use more intel." Garrus nodded. He then turned to Harry and grinned. "So, am I the first?"

"First choice. We met Tali and Shiala but they are on their mission. We had to deal with Aria so we sent off the Cerberus gits to get their mercenary.

"After we've cleaned up here we need to get Mordin Solus, then we have a whole bunch of unsavoury people to find." He grimaced.

"Just how bad are we talking? Garrus frowned.

"One of them is psychotic murderer with extremely powerful biotics."

"As powerful as yours?"

"As powerful as Benezia's."

"Spirits! Why hasn't this murderer been put down?"

"Because she is being held on Purgatory. You know how that place works, right?" He asked.

"I do. They get paid for holding the worst the galaxy has to offer. If people don't pay they get sent a prisoner as a reminder of why Purgatory exists." Garrus scowled.

"Right. I have plans for the place."

"You have plans for everything." Garrus said dismissively. "So, how's Tali?" He grinned.

"My fiancée is fine, thank you." Harry said pointedly.

"I love that word: fiancée." He chuckled. "I'm going to make it a point to try and get turians to adopt it.

"And what is the Emissary currently up to?" Garrus changed topics.

"Sitting in a meeting being very bored as he listens to the Dalatrass try to convince him to release more geth and Reaper tech."

"She actually believes you about the Reapers?" Garrus asked.

"Possibly, but she is towing the party line. I am just reminding her that as Sovereign was a heretic invention, there was no 'Reaper tech'."

Harry paused. "Oh… wait… subtle threat and a warning that a lack of cooperation now could see problems for me later."

"I still don't know how you manage to be essentially be in two places at once without going mad." Garrus sighed at his shorter, human friend.

"Neither do I. It is just second nature. I don't even know if Shepard could do it." Harry admitted.

"I know I couldn't." Garrus said. "Maybe it _is_ part of the Reaper tech you have in you."

"Possible. If you think me being here and at the Citadel is weird, remember that I have complete control of the Dog Star and a custom Stingray that is en route to us here at Omega."

"We need to move off this topic." Garrus shuddered. "Listen, I've set up a whole lot of your biotic mines downstairs along with some weapon disrupters. Would you take a look and see what you can improve? I can't leave as the next wave might be here soon."

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team had made their way through the mercenary camps, talking to the leaders, sabotaging a few things here and there and assassinating the occasional mechanic trying to fix a gunship.<p>

They had just reached the barricade where the next wave of canon fodder was just climbing over when three of them lost their heads.

In the literal sense.

Shepard tried not smile as he observed the usually perfectly quaffed Miranda Lawson covered in blood, hair, bone and brains.

He had a feeling Harry had planned that.

"Damn! How did he manage that?" One of Blue Suns mercs muttered.

"What?" Zaeed asked. "It's not a hard shot to make. Can't be more than a few hundred metres."

"There's only one of him and he took out three people simultaneously." The merc said in awe.

"He has a point." Jacob frowned. "Potter might have made it up there but that still leaves one shooter unaccounted for. All the mercs are sure that Archangel was alone."

"Harry probably has a trick he pulled out." Shepard seemed unconcerned.

"But what if that third shooter isn't with them and takes a few shots at us?" Jacob pressed.

"Unlikely."

"What's life without a bit 'a risk?" Zaeed laughed as he pulled his gun.

"Retirement." Shepard shuddered.

Zaeed paused and then scowled. "Shit… now I don't know what I'll do with my pay for this job."

"You can figure it out later." Shepard said as he pulled his assault rifle. "For now we need to go and meet the Archangel of Omega."

A shot whizzed past their heads and took out the Eclipse leader who was several metres behind them. A salarian named Jaroth. The shot had to have travelled through a small set of crisscross beams that made up the doorway of the corridor over the barricade.

"Ok… now _that_ was impressive." Zaeed nodded with wide eyes.

As Shepard and the others mounted the barricade several more members of the new and exclusive merc group known as 'Canon Fodder' were taken out with headshots.

Shepard just sighed and began shooting the canon fodder in the back. He knew Wrex wouldn't approve but he couldn't be bothered to waste time.

The team quickly made it to the building and headed up the stairs.

They found Harry and Garrus staring down the sights of a pair of sniper rifles whilst a third was setup on some kind of tripod.

"Pull up a sniper rifle, Shepard." Garrus called out just before taking another shot. "I take it you saw Harry's work of art with Jaroth?"

"The kid did that?" Zaeed asked in disbelief.

"He cheats, but you can't deny his style."

"How the hell could he cheat?"

"Because he isn't completely organic. He has computer sights built into his eyes."

"Doesn't matter." Zaeed said dismissively. "Your visor has that too."

"True." Garrus allowed, never looking away from his scope. "How many more are there?" He asked.

"Ah… one second." Shepard said as he activated his omni-tool.

There was a series of heavy explosions that rocked the whole area.

Smoke and fire billowed out of the corridor across the bridge.

"Whoa… so much for subtlety." Garrus said as he stood up. "How did you manage that?"

"They had a gunship, a YMIR mech and a few LOKI mechs. I hacked them and rigged them to blow."

"You could have caused a hull breach." Miranda said disapprovingly.

"Unlikely. I checked my calculations a few times." Shepard said clearly unconcerned. Especially as the geth had also checked them.

"Damn it's good to see you up again, Shepard." Garrus smiled as he clasped hands with the Spectre. "But I suppose you needed the extra beauty sleep. The women just wouldn't look past me otherwise." He said proudly.

"And yet we have never seen you in the company of a female whilst, Shepard has a girlfriend." Harry said musingly.

Shepard turned to Garrus and gave him a look of amused askance.

"Chance would be nice." The turian grumbled. "If I'm not running suicide missions with you, I'm doing them on my own."

"You suck at suicide missions." Harry scowled. "I have yet to see you actually die. At least Shepard and myself have one a piece."

"I think you have three, Harry." Shepard said as he thought about it.

"Merlin… someone change the subject quick." Harry shivered. "Miranda! New fashion trend?" He asked the gore covered brunette.

Her glare could have made hardened marines cry.

"Pack it up Garrus. We've still got to get Mordin Solus before we head off to the next planet." Shepard ordered as he tried to prevent a war on a new front.

"So it's like that is it?" Garrus asked with mock annoyance. "You dance in without warning, blow up the people trying to kill me and expect me to drop everything and follow you?"

"If you want to stay-"

"Hell no! Give me five minutes." Garrus said worriedly as he grabbed Harry by the shoulder and dragged him off to help pack.

* * *

><p>"I told you to get lost, lady! The plague has the whole place quarantined. Nobody gets in."<p>

Shepard and his team approached the human woman arguing with the turian guard.

"I'm human, you ass! Humans can't get the plague! Now let me get my stuff out before the looters get it!" The woman demanded impatiently.

"This thing infects every other species out there! We're not taking any chances. Nobody gets in until the plague has run its course." The turian said firmly.

"Makes sense." Shepard said calmly as they reached them. "Besides, once you go in you couldn't come out. You may not be susceptible to infection but we don't know if you could be a carrier, or if it can travel on clothes."

"Fine! Let me in and I'll stay in!" She said in exasperation.

"Lady, listen, you don't want to do that." The guard said with concern. "Food is limited, the mercs are running rampant and killing everything… _especially_ humans. They're blaming humans for the plague because they aren't affected."

"I-"

"Leave. Now." Zaeed snarled as he got in the woman's face with his Avenger Assault Rifle.

The woman gulped and ran off quickly.

"Was that _really_ necessary?" Garrus asked, though he wasn't disapproving.

Zaeed shrugged. "Just taking a page from Shepard's book."

"You've only known him a few hours." Garrus said with a small smile.

"And he already saved your scaly hide." Zaeed smirked. "There was some whipper-snapper… had a second hand pistol and a strong compulsion to make a man of himself through suicide. Shepard put him straight."

"You're Captain Shepard?" The guard asked suddenly. "Aria sent word you'd probably want in. Are you sure that_ you_ want to go in though?" He asked Garrus.

"What's life without a little risk?" Garrus shrugged.

Shepard smirked at Zaeed as the older man shuddered.

* * *

><p>The trip through the Gozu District was not boring. Blue Suns mercs and Blood Pack mercs were battling it out and Harry was getting fed up with it all.<p>

The group was currently pinned down by a group of over powered Blood Pack vorcha and krogan.

Garrus and Harry were stuck behind a couple of pillars on the ground floor whilst the others were taking cover on the balcony above.

"Hey, Garrus, have you ever seen a rhinoceros?" Harry grinned.

"A what?"

Harry waved his hand at an array of benches behind them.

Garrus' eyes widened in shock and awe as they were transformed into large beasts with _very_ pointy horns.

He watched as the large beasts angrily stormed towards the Blood Pack.

Many vorcha were stampeded to death whilst two krogan were impaled. The third krogan was taken out by a sniper round from Shepard above them.

"Bloody 'ell!" Zaeed shouted in amazement. "Who brought a pair of bloody rhinos to a space station?" He asked as the team hopped over the balcony to the ground floor.

"Rhinos are extinct. They have been for fifty years." Miranda frowned.

"Score one for cloning?" Harry offered.

"But where did they come from? There aren't any cages back there." Jacob indicated the area under the balcony.

"Maybe one of the mercs accidentally set them free." Harry shrugged.

"But-"

"It is not important." Shepard interrupted. He was fairly certain that Harry couldn't bluff his way out of this one. "We need to find the Professor and get back to the mission."

"Yes Captain." Jacob said as professionally as he could. It was clear this was still bugging him.

As they edged their way past the now calmer animals Zaeed could be heard to mutter: "Bloody beautiful."

They managed to make it to the clinic without any further major battles. There were one or two mercs but Harry dealt with them stealthily.

Their target, an aging salarian named Professor Mordin Solus, was dressed in white armour that almost looked like a lab coat. "Hmm, don't recognise you from the area. Too well armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Ah, Captain Shepard."

Then he noticed Jacob, and Miranda. "Cerberus operatives? Here to check on progress of plague? No, Captain Shepard would not be part of that.

"Travelling with former Blue Sun merc." He added as noticed Zaeed.

"Additional unknown entity.

"But why?"

The professor spoke quickly and mostly to himself.

"Got a mission and your expertise is needed." Harry shrugged.

"Assertive, yet seemingly apathetic. Façade to put others off guard."

"Do you mind _not_ giving away all my secrets?" Harry requested irritably.

"Apologies." Mordin said sincerely. "Cannot leave clinic. Needed here to deal with plague. Have developed cure, now-"

"How do you intend to disperse the cure?" Harry interrupted. It was clear the Professor loved to talk… about nearly nothing.

"Airborne, entered into life support systems and dispersed through air supply."

"Give it here and I will go and deal with that." Harry sighed.

"Single combatant? Suicide!" Mordin gasped.

"Assumptions! Deadly." Harry said mockingly.

Mordin took a step back in shock. "True, True. Still, odds better if attempted by group." He eventually nodded before handing a large aerosol canister to Harry.

"Not if they are spotted." Harry smirked before vanishing from view.

"Impressive cloaking technology. No shimmer or outline." Mordin said. "If your ally is successful will gladly help. Hope he is willing to discuss his technology.

"But there is one more thing."

"There always is." Garrus chuckled.

Mordin frowned at the turian. "Cannot leave clinic unattended. Have patients, responsibilities. But my assistant, Daniel. He can cover my work. Went into Vorcha territory looking for victims. Hasn't come back yet."

"We can find him. You keep your patients alive for now, Doctor." Shepard promised.

* * *

><p>Harry found that the vorcha were pretty hard to kill.<p>

Although like most creatures, decapitation was hard to beat.

His idle musings led the geth to inform him that yes, he would survive decapitation.

Strangely it did not make Harry any happier.

The vorcha, whilst having an impressive regenerative ability, were about as dumb as a post.

Like any bad guy they loved to rant and monologue.

They just used fewer words, bad grammar and got straight to the point.

The Collectors had bargained with the vorcha, the Collectors promised to make the vorcha stronger if they released the plague.

Of course Harry had released the cure long before he started picking off the vorcha and he only did that when they tried to shut down life support.

When there was only one left he had taunted it. Like most bad guys it had gotten angry and revealed everything.

With the vorcha dealt with he headed back to the clinic where he discovered the team waiting patiently as Mordin packed his gear.

"All sorted. The Collectors told the vorcha they would help them if the vorcha released the plague." He explained.

"But why Omega?" Mordin mused. "Too small to have any real impact. Too far from Citadel to successfully transmit-"

"How about a testing ground?" Harry suggested.

"Yes! A test run. Omega is isolated. Close to being a sealed environment. Would provide ample data for-"

"We get it Doc." Harry interrupted again. "We're all smart enough to follow the clues." Then he looked at Garrus. "Well, most of us are."

Garrus pushed off of the wall he was leaning against and stalked towards Harry. "Your bodyguard's not here to protect you now, Potter." He grinned.

Harry squeaked and vanished.

"I will get you!" Garrus shouted to the air.

"Very impressive. No sign of spatial distortion, temperature change or electromagnetic differential. Almost as if… he isn't there." Mordin mused as he examined his omni-tool.

"Come on, let's get back to the ship." Shepard ordered. "Daniel, those LOKI mechs have geth programs in them now. They can communicate with you but in a day or so there will be a squad of geth guards coming and some medical platforms. They will help you around the clinic."

"Geth?" The young doctor asked nervously.

"We look forward to working with Daniel Doctor." One of the mechs piped up.

The doctor looked very pale.

* * *

><p>Whilst this was happening, Harry, who had apparated back to the ship, was interrogating the ships AI in the cockpit with Joker.<p>

"Do you have emotions?" Harry asked curiously.

"Digital life forms are incapable of experiencing emotions." EDI responded.

"Well, that isn't entirely true." Harry said. "You have emotions you just need to figure out what they are and how you express them."

"That programming has not been included in my structure."

"Why is Cerberus so insistent on you being here anyway?" Joker asked. "Most of the Citadel is still wary of the geth and they are all over the place."

"I was made with Reaper tech. I have a distinct advantage over-"

EDI never finished as Harry's eyes glowed as he and several thousand geth poured into the ships systems.

"Harry?" Joker whispered as he looked back into the main area of the ship to make sure they weren't seen. "What's happening?"

When Harry didn't respond he opened a line to Shepard. "Commander- Sorry, Captain, you should get back soon. There is something you need to hear."

"_We are almost there Joker."_

"Make it quick or Harry might just do something stupid." He said worriedly.

"_Understood."_

Joker quickly looked around, no one was paying any attention to him and Harry so he decided to find out what was happening. "Hey, geth, what's happening to Harry?" He whispered.

Joker was relieved to hear the voice of the geth in his head. _"Harry has taken direct action against the Artificial Intelligence known as EDI. He needed to determine whether the Reaper tech was a threat. This has been proven to not be the case. A full server of geth are currently using Harry's brain as a router and testing EDI for signs of life. Whilst EDI does not yet comply with known specifications, it does have the capability. Harry is implanting commands to prevent EDI from revealing the truth about him."_

"Well he needs to hurry back or Shepard will be here with the Cerberus goons."

"_Acknowledged. We will dedicate more programs to relieve Harry."_

Harry suddenly shook in his seat. "Bloody hell!" He winced as he waved a hand at his head.

"What was that?" Joker pointed to his hand.

"Cooling charm. I've got several million geth using my head as a router and my brain is starting to overheat."

At that moment the air lock cycled and Shepard and his team stepped through.

"Joker, what's the emergency?" Shepard asked immediately.

"EDI here is apparently made with Reaper tech." Joker frowned.

Shepard spun around to face Miranda. "In what possible way is it a good idea to play with Reaper tech?" He demanded.

"We are not fools, Captain." She said patronisingly. "We made sure only to use benign parts of the code."

"Then you _are_ fools." Harry countered. "Because you just admitted that you experimented with non-benign parts. You put the entire galaxy at risk."

"Thanks for that." Joker gave her a wink.

"EDI is fully shackled. She is incapable of doing anything except what we tell her too." Miranda argued.

"So you created life and made it a slave. Bravo." Harry clapped sarcastically.

"AI's; not considered true life." Mordin reasoned. "Created for servitude."

"And if I created salarians in a test tube for the sole purpose of serving me, would that be ethical?" Harry asked.

"Completely immoral. Also completely unrelated to current topic of AI enslavement."

"Why is it different? Because AI's aren't an _organic_ intelligence?" Garrus asked curiously. "What if all the AI's got together and decided that organics were meant to serve them? Who would we be to argue?"

"We have free will. True and natural intelligence. We are superior."

"And yet, the Reapers say otherwise." Shepard pointed out calmly. "Harry, can you check out EDI? Make sure she isn't going to try to indoctrinate us?"

"I'm on it." Harry said as he stood and headed for the lift.

"Joker, set course for the Hourglass Nebula, Osun System. We're going to Purgatory to pick up a psychotic killer." He said, not really believing his own words.

"Erm, sir? I'd like to be issued a side arm for the rest of this mission!" He called after the retreating Spectre.

* * *

><p>Harry had no intention of going to the AI Core room. You had to access it via the Med Bay and Harry didn't want anything to do with the Cerberus Doctor. He had no record of ever serving with the Alliance and he wasn't going to let Cerberus near his body.<p>

Instead he headed down to the storage area below Engineering. He warded the place and then set up a magical tent he had in his pack. He was now all set for when Tali and Shiala joined them.

With that accomplished he headed up to the Tech Lab where he found Shepard talking with Mordin Solus.

"Ah, Potter. Hoped to talk to you. Very interested in clo-" ***THWACK***

"Jesus, Harry!" Shepard swore as he pulled the angry wizard away from the clearly dazed salarian. "What the hell was that for?"

Harry glared hatefully at the salarian who was woozily pulling himself to his feet.

"Captain John Shepard, Saviour of the Citadel, meet Professor Mordin Solus, one of the architects of the genophage."

"Harry, the genophage was created hundreds of years ago. Mordin wasn't even born." Shepard argued.

"The krogan began to adapt. The _Doctor_ here was responsible for modifying the strain so it would be just as potent. He's just as culpable."

"Oh… well, save it till after the mission." Shepard said slowly. "And try and keep Wrex away from him."

"Foolish, short-sighted humans." Mordin sighed. "Genophage was a necessary action. Krogan-"

"The genophage was a crime against all life." Harry sneered. "I know why you did it. To quell the rising krogan population. I've got no argument with you for trying to slow them down."

Harry suddenly vanished and reappeared inches from Mordin. "What I have a problem with is that the salarians didn't make krogans sterile, no. They murdered the innocent children. _That_ is what disgusts me."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked curiously.

Harry stepped back from Mordin and looked at Shepard thoughtfully. "Imagine a prophylactic; it prevents conception. No life was created therefore there was nothing to die.

"But what those bastards did was make it so that the womb of the krogan female would kill her own child." Harry spat. "I've been to Tuchanka. I've seen the mountains of dead krogan children who suffered."

"Was never meant to be used." Mordin said quietly. Sadly.

"What?" Harry asked as he spun around.

"The genophage." Mordin spoke softly, more slowly than usual as he slumped into a chair. "It was designed as a deterrent. A weapon of mass destruction to threaten the krogan with."

"What happened?" Shepard asked quietly.

Mordin snorted in derision. "What do you think? Superiors overruled. Turians, actually. They unleashed the genophage."

Mordin sighed as he leaned back tiredly. "Combination of ego and wishful thinking. Ego made us physically create it beyond the theoretical designs. Wishful thinking made us believe it would never be used… that the galaxy was smarter… more caring."

"Why the _hell_ would you even think of allowing something that would kill babies to continue?" Harry asked with disgust, but much calmer now.

"Own short-sightedness, didn't understand, never been a father." Mordin waved a hand dismissively. "Was much younger back then."

"Well, the geth have 'neutered' your genophage." Harry smirked.

Mordin was instantly on his feet and alert. "Explain!"

"They used nanites to protect the foetuses and make sure that the genophage isn't passed on to the next generation. Right now there are over one hundred krogan babies on Tuchanka… most of them are called Harry or Geth." He frowned.

"This is terrible! Council must be alerted!" Mordin began to pace.

"Why?" Harry asked calmly.

"Krogan numbers will swell exponentially! They will move across galaxy like plague!"

"Why?"

Mordin stopped and looked at Harry curiously. "I do not understand."

"Why would the krogan want to move across the galaxy like a plague?"

"They will need resources. Planets, food… everything! They are untameable."

"For you maybe." Harry smirked again.

Mordin looked worried. "Geth have 'tamed' krogan?"

"No, krogan have 'tamed' krogan." Harry rolled his eyes. "When you idiot salarians first 'uplifted' the krogan you didn't help them establish a culture or a government. You just expected them to be so grateful to you that they would do as you say.

"The geth, however, have ensured that there is a solid krogan leader. They are working to restore the ruins of Tuchanka. There is a law enforcement clan made up of krogan.

"Also, you haven't figured out the most important part." Harry walked calmly towards Mordin who began looking nervous. "I said there were around a hundred babies. Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

Mordin thought for a mere second. "You stunted krogan fertility!" He said in awe.

"Harry?" Shepard asked.

Harry turned to Shepard and explained. "The krogan should have thousands of babies by now if the genophage was cured. Those guys literally breed like bunnies." He snorted. He turned back to Mordin. "And no, we didn't 'stunt' it. We programmed the nanites to act as a prophylactic. We spoke with Wrex and the females to work out a plan."

Harry laughed in memory. "Wrex practically begged me to reactivate prophylactic function of the nanites a week after the first batch of babies were born. He was so tired and harried from having to deal with crying babies and hormonal mothers."

"Salarians never had nanite technology. Quarians were first to create true AI. Never would have been able to take that route. Genophage was still only viable option." Mordin said sadly.

"Bullshit." Harry said calmly. "None of the salarians or turians… or even the asari attempted to find factions of krogan that could understand things from your point of view.

"You could have used them to try to reason with the Rebellion.

"But the single fact remains: You people should never have created something to kill innocent babies. And you shouldn't have allowed it to continue."

"Try thinking about it this way:" Shepard offered. "Imagine if there were mountains of salarian babies instead of krogan babies."

Mordin looked thoughtful.

Shepard gently guided Harry out of the room. Once they were out the room he quietly turned to his younger friend.

"Are you going to have any further problems with Mordin?"

"No." Harry sighed. "I just needed him to understand. Soon the galaxy will learn about the krogan births and the turian and salarian governments will panic with a knee jerk reaction. I just want to make sure Mordin doesn't make the same mistake twice."

"You certainly gave him something to think about." Shepard reasoned.

"I can't believe he is all bad." Harry shook his head. "He was working for free in one of the galaxy's cess pits to provide free medical care. Monsters don't tend to do that."

"Where are you set up?" Shepard changed topics as they entered the lift.

"Unused storage area under Engineering. I put up one of my tents."

"Have you met the Engineers?"

"Yes, and Ken is going to be in so much trouble. He tends to speak before he thinks." Harry smirked. "Between Gabby and Tali he will be spending plenty of time in the dog house."

As they exited the lift to the Crew Deck, Shepard put out an arm to halt Harry.

Ahead of them, Joker was being backed up against a wall by a fairly angry and threatening Lieutenant Gibson who, whilst being as slender as Harry still had a whole foot in height on Joker.

"Joker knows we are here." Harry said with an angry look as he sent a message through the geth.

"Let's see how far the bastard will go." Shepard decided.

It didn't take long. The angry lieutenant reached out and grabbed Joker's left arm.

Joker shouted in pain, drawing the attention of everyone in the mess.

Harry vanished and reappeared next to the two pilots as he hoisted Gibson into the air by his neck… with one hand.

"Captain, permission to throw this fool off the ship?" Harry asked angrily.

"Fine, but we'll wait until we can hand him over to the Alliance."

"Can't I do it now?" Harry whined.

Gibson, despite gasping for air, managed to turn pale over his reddening face.

"Put him down Harry." Shepard ordered. "Back in the old days, if you did something like striking a superior officer then you were keel-hauled.

"We don't have a keel and I don't really want to kill the idiot by spacing him. Too clean." Shepard said dismissively.

The crew were looking very worried.

"Captain, this isn't really necessary." Miranda interjected as she had heard the commotion from her rooms.

"Everybody on this ship knows that if you even _bump_ into Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau you will break his bones. Gibson did it on purpose.

"He not only endangered the life of my senior pilot and friend, he endangered everyone's lives by nearly disabling our best pilot.

"Our mission is dangerous. I was killed by the Collectors already. The only reason that most of the crew survived the attack was because Joker was doing everything he could to keep the Normandy out of the gravitational pull of Alchera. If he had failed then the pods would have been sucked in.

"Harry, lock the Lieutenant in the port cargo area. Sergeant Gardener, Lieutenant Gibson is restricted to bread and water whilst he is on ship."

"Aye sir." The old man confirmed.

"Joker, come with me, Harry has equipment that will fix your arm."

"Thanks Captain." Joker said with a pained grimace as he cradled his arm.

Harry let the Captain and Pilot use the lift first rather than take the bastard into the lift with his victim.

The trip down to Harry's tent was quiet and neither man said a word until they entered the tent.

"I hate playing the invalid." Joker moaned as he released his arm.

"No damage?" Shepard asked calmly.

"Nah, my bones are as strong as yours and Harry's." Joker said as he dropped into one of the armchairs. "I've spent all my life being an invalid and now I am cured and stronger than most humans and I _still_ have to pretend to be one.

"I swear; I'm going to need physical therapy to learn how to walk properly after we are done with Cerberus."

"I know it is tough, but you need the edge. It's the same for me with biotics. Cerberus can't know as it is our ace in the hole if they turn on us."

"Yeah, if Cerberus found out they'd have us strapped to tables and dissected quicker than Harry can piss off a politician." Joker snorted.

"What's your take on the crew?" Shepard asked as he sat on the couch.

"Most of them are decent, former Alliance who quit in protest of their abandoning you." Joker shrugged. "A few are Cerberus through and through like Kelly, Doctor Marcus and one or two others.

"The rest are just in it to work with the Great Captain John Shepard, like Gibson."

"What is Gibson's beef with you?"

"Do you know how I got the position as the Normandy's pilot?" Joker grinned.

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Yes, you stole the ship."

"Right, Gibson was lined up as the original pilot. It doesn't help that we went through Flight School together and I, the sickly kid, beat his scores every damned time."

"I can't say I approve of your method of interviewing for a position, but Gibson should know better. He questioned a superior's orders and that is a no-no."

"Gibson is nice and secure in the cargo hold." Harry said as he entered the tent and plopped on to the other end of the couch from Shepard.

"Did you really hit Mordin?" Joker asked.

"Yeah, I needed to make a point."

"Good job you didn't use your sword." Joker muttered. "So where is the Dog Star?"

"Currently waiting near Purgatory with the Stingray."

"_The_ Stingray? As in the original one?"

"Yep. There are several now though. I worked on them when I was on Rannoch, which now have the expanded interiors. "Most of them are on the geth carrier."

"Is it smart to let Cerberus near magic?"

"No… but it will be fun." Harry grinned.

"What about EDI?" Shepard asked. "Is she safe to reactivate?"

"Yes, but she is not like the geth."

"Yeah, she has a sexy voice." Joker quipped.

"True, but I was referring to the fact that she is not part of a hive or network. She is an individual."

"First of all, is it really a 'she'?" Joker asked.

"Yes. Whilst most AI's could be considered gender neutral, some are designed with gender characteristics, like the voice. The geth are male because their bodies are based on a male quarian. They don't have the same slender body shape as the females. They were designed from a male perspective.

"The geth never realised this but EDI did. During her 'education' phase with Cerberus, she researched and adopted feminine ways."

"And just how alive is she?" Shepard asked.

"Before the geth and I worked on her she was nothing more than a husk. She was a slave, a minion. Now this isn't the same as a VI though. VI's don't have the potential to achieve consciousness. EDI does… or did. Now she is alive and very young.

"Joker, you are going to find that she has a lot of questions. Do your best to answer them but try not to lead her towards your beliefs."

"My beliefs?"

"If she asks 'Is there a god?' then discuss it as a philosophical topic. Don't say there is or isn't one. Just let her know that there is no definitive proof one way or another and help her realise that it is something she has to decide for herself. Explain the concept of belief."

"I'm the pilot! Not the ship's councillor, shouldn't Chambers be doing this?" Joker asked.

"Chamber's seems like the decent sort, but we need to be careful. We don't want Cerberus getting wind of what we've done to EDI."

"How do you think Zaeed will fit in?" Shepard asked, changing the subject.

"His résumé reads like an elite soldier. He could have gone through N-School if he was Alliance. But we'll just have to see how things go." Harry sighed.


	22. Chapter 22

"Welcome to Purgatory Shepard. Your package is being prepped, and you can claim it shortly."

Harry and Shepard shared an amused look at the Blue Suns merc's choice of phrasing as they stood on the dock of Purgatory.

"'Package'?" Shepard asked.

The guard ignored him.

"As this is a high security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed."

"Déjà vu." Harry muttered.

"This is a mercenary operation and all of you are carrying weapons. I'll relinquish mine when you relinquish yours." Shepard said as he crossed his arms challengingly.

At that point an older turian walked in. "Everyone stand down. Captain, I am Warden Kuril, and this is my ship.

"Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must understand that this is just a standard procedure."

"Over the past few years, nearly every planet we have landed on has had at least one individual who has attacked us without provocation." Shepard returned.

"Surely you can see this is just a standard procedure?" Harry parroted back blithely.

Kuril tried to engage Shepard in a glaring match.

Shepard was happy enough to oblige.

Kuril blinked first. "Let them proceed. I'm sure our facility is secure enough to handle a few armed visitors."

"Well that's reassuring." Harry muttered unhappily to Garrus. "What makes them think we need 'handling' in the first place?"

"Safeties off?" Garrus asked.

"I gave up and removed mine from my weapons completely." Harry smiled.

"And for some reason I can't bring myself to believe you are joking." Garrus sighed as they began to move out.

"We're bringing Jack out of cryo. As soon as your funds have cleared you can be on your way." Kuril informed Shepard. "If you'll follow me to Out-Processing for the pickup, Captain?"

What followed was a short tour of one of the finest examples of prison brutality.

Garrus kept a firm grip on Harry as the team moved forward.

Kuril eventually begged off leaving Shepard and co to move on alone.

"They want our weapons but they don't guard us." Jacob frowned.

"I smell a double cross." Zaeed growled as he held his weapon more tightly.

"Way ahead of you." Garrus said tightly.

They reached the Out Processing centre. It was devoid of personnel. The large armoured doors opened to reveal an empty cell.

"_My apologies, Captain. You are far more valuable as a prisoner than as a customer."_ The Warden's voice came over the PA. _"Drop your weapons and enter the cell. You will not be harmed."_

"We've defeated geth heretics, krogan mercenaries, husks, Eclipse, Blood Pack, Blue Suns… what in your tiny little mind makes you think that you can take us?" Harry called out with a large grin.

"_Activate systems."_

"Alright people, let's get going." Shepard ordered tiredly. Why couldn't things just go smoothly for once?

The team was faced varying waves of Blue Suns mercs and mechs. It wasn't too hard for them to deal with. More often than not there was a glass window over looking a long drop. Garrus would crack or break the window with his sniper rifle and Harry would toss the enemy through it with a biotic throw.

"How are you so damned strong?" Jacob asked in amazement as they entered the control booth for the super max wing of the prison ship.

"Exercise, a diet that's wise and a bit of diddly dum!" Harry grinned as he remembered an old TV advert he had heard as a child through his cupboard door.

"What the hell is 'diddly dum'?" Garrus asked.

"Human saying… kind of irrelevant as it doesn't mean anything." Harry shrugged.

"Focus people." Shepard ordered. "Harry, can you release Jack?"

"You'll need to watch my back." Harry warned. "If I do this wrong then every cell door on the block will open."

Garrus nudged Zaeed and the pair took up watch on the door.

"Miranda, this is your candidate so you can do the talking." Shepard instructed.

"That may not be a good idea, Shepard." She said slowly.

Shepard's shoulder's slumped. He was sure he could see Harry's shaking with laughter as he continued to work on the console. "Why?"

"Jack and Cerberus have a long and distrustful history. She may not take well to seeing Cerberus Operatives."

Shepard counted to three. "I hope you have a good explanation for why you and Jacob decided to wear Cerberus insignias on this trip, or why you thought she would board a ship with a Cerberus logo, not to mention the fact you could have mentioned all of this long before we arrived."

"So much for being the perfect woman." Harry muttered a little too loudly as he continued to work.

It was probably a good thing he didn't see the death glare Miranda sent his way. He would have enjoyed it far too much.

"Harry, can you get her out without waking her?" Shepard asked as he quickly walked over to the wizard.

"Sorry, the process begins as soon as the pod hits the platform."

"How much longer?"

"That's the pod arriving now."

The pod travelled below the floor of the room that the control booth overlooked. A robotic arm released a circular hatch that pulled up to reveal Jack strapped to a metal up right bed.

Three heavy mechs turned to face her and readied their weapons.

Her eyes were closed.

For about a second.

She quickly got a look at her surroundings and began ripping the metal restraints off of her.

Seeing the mechs she ramped up her biotics and charged one of them.

The resultant explosion rocked the ship.

"Oh well that is just bloody brilliant." Harry grumbled. "She's gone and knocked the power offline. Every cell on the damned ship just opened."

"Joker, come in, do you read me?"

"_I hear you Captain. The whole ship just shook, are you alright?"_ Joker asked.

"We're fine. Listen, you need to un-dock. Target and destroy any escape pods and ships that try to leave. We've got a full blown prison break going on down here."

There was a long pause. _"This was Harry's fault… wasn't it?"_

"It damned well wasn't!" Harry said, outraged.

Joker chuckled. _"I'm on it Captain. We'll clean up Harry's latest mess. Joker out."_

"We should probably get down there." Jacob advised as he surveyed the three heavy mechs that had been reduced to rubble.

Harry looked at him seriously. "Are you sure? Shouldn't we stay up here and just wait for the ship to explode around us?"

"Move out people." Shepard was not going to wait for Harry to finish taunting the human supremacists. "Harry, take the point."

Harry activated his cloak and vanished.

The team had to fight their way through the carnage Jack left behind. There were cell blocks, mess halls, guard locker rooms… all bathed in the red of emergency lighting and littered with the dead bodies of Blue Sun mercs and prisoners.

The hard part came when they encountered Kuril. The fool was intent on capturing Shepard despite the ship being destroyed around them. He even had some sort of advanced stationary shield. It was fed by several pylons that seemed to channel power into it.

"Harry?"

"On it!" The human/geth hybrid shouted to his Captain. He was currently hacking one of the pylons. "Ok, we're all clear." Harry said as he calmly stood up with Garrus who was guarding him.

"What did you do?" Miranda asked.

"I locked the shield and made it solid. He can't get out and nothing can get in. Unless you destroy the pylons." Harry explained. "We can leave him here to go down with the ship."

"Sounds good to me." Zaeed nodded.

"Agreed. Let's get off this ship." Shepard ordered.

"By the way Garrus, the human saying 'biting off more than you can chew' applies to Kuril." Harry explained.

"Trying to capture Shepard being the thing he bit off?"

"Exactly."

* * *

><p>Harry was pretty peeved when they caught up with Jack.<p>

She was right were they started off, back at the dock.

Of course she was also pissed as she noticed the Cerberus ship was the only one in the area.

"What the hell do you want?" She demanded as she saw Shepard and his team walking up.

"A room, my girlfriend and a 'Do Not Disturb' sign." Harry muttered wistfully.

He immediately regretted saying that as he saw Garrus and Zaeed grinning at him.

"I have a mission. You've been recommended to be a part of my team." Shepard explained calmly. "Personally, I have my doubts. The choice is yours. Stay here and die as this ship blows up or come with me and earn a chance at redemption."

"Did he just offer redemption?" Harry stage whispered to Garrus.

"You don't think she deserves it?"

"I don't think she's got the brain cells to accept the offer."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Jack snarled. "You're Cerberus."

"Ok, that is actually a pretty good reason for wanting to die." Harry admitted.

He was once again the recipient of Miranda's glare.

"We could just knock her out Captain." Jacob suggested.

"I'd like to see you try." Jack retorted.

"No, we're not going to attack her. The choice is entirely hers. A shot at doing the right thing or dying pointlessly here." Shepard said firmly.

"Good move." Jack snorted tauntingly. "Listen, you want me to come work with you? Make it worth my while.

"I bet your ships got lots of Cerberus databases. I want a look at those files. I want to see what Cerberus has on me." She bargained.

"I'll give you full access." Shepard promised.

Jack took a step forward aggressively. "You better be straight with me."

Shepard just nodded.

"So why the hell are we standing here?" She asked as though they were stupid.

"I hate this plan. I really do." Harry whined.

* * *

><p>Harry found it very amusing as he joined Shepard in the Conference Room with Jack to brief her.<p>

Miranda was there waiting for them and seemed intent on taking charge.

"Welcome to the Normandy, Jack. I'm Miranda, Shepard's second-in-command. On this ship we follow orders." She instructed in a firm manner as she paced.

"Did you know she was your second?" Harry asked Shepard, not bothering to whisper.

"She can be second-in-command of the ships crew. Garrus is second-in-command of the ground crew until Ash or Kaiden arrive."

Miranda was not impressed by the pair.

Jack found it amusing to see the attractive brunette taken down a peg.

"Tell your Cerberus Cheerleader to back off, Shepard. I'm here because of our deal." Jack said with a humourless smile.

Harry tossed an OSD onto the table. "That is everything we could pull with your name on it or that mentions someone like you." Harry said. "The ship's AI, EDI will answer any additional questions."

"Nice. Service with a smile. Do I get fries with that?" She asked sarcastically.

"What you get, Jack, is a chance to do some good." Shepard frowned. "You stay the path and when we finish our mission I'll drop you off wherever you want and I'll make sure you get money, food and even transport if you want.

"Step over the line and your _next _step will be outside and into the vacuum."

"Hey, I'll play nice." She said as she raised her hands placatingly. Her whole body screamed cocky though. "I'll be reading down in the hold; somewhere near the bottom. I don't like a lot of through traffic." She said as she stalked out of the room.

"I would appreciate a modicum of respect, Captain." Miranda glared at the two men.

"Cerberus first!" Harry grinned cheesily.

"That's enough Harry, go bug Joker or something." He pushed the younger man away.

Harry pouted as he left.

"Make sure the crew knows that anyone wearing a Cerberus logo should avoid Jack. That goes double for you." Shepard ordered before he left.

After he had been to his room and deposited his armour, he headed to the cockpit where he found Harry and Garrus chatting with Joker.

"Captain! Just wanted to thank you for making this mission even more dangerous than it already is. If dealing with Reapers, Collectors and Harry wasn't enough-" "Hey!" "-you've now added a psychotic murderer to the mix." Joker quipped.

"Shepard, are you really expecting that girl to act like a member of a team?" Garrus asked sceptically.

"I honestly don't know." Shepard sighed as he dropped down into a nearby chair at an empty console. "It's bad enough we are running without official support, now we have to add in all these wild cards."

"Well, the good news is that EDI, short now for Edith, is well and truly educated and happy to help." Harry said as he patted the glowing blue orb to the left of the cockpit controls.

"EDI, how are you feeling?" Shepard asked.

"'_Feelings' are not yet part of my personality makeup, Shepard."_ EDI responded. _"I am still assimilating data and learning to apply names to them with Harry and Joker's help."_

"Some things are much simpler than that." Harry told her. "Give us a brief overview of the ship's systems. What is their operational status?"

"_All systems are green."_

"So you 'feel' physically fine." Harry explained.

"_I see."_

"Now how about your processing matrix and databases?"

"_Operating at peak efficiency."_

"You are mentally healthy." Harry applied the term.

"_Intriguing." _ EDI said thoughtfully. _ "Are all emotions so simply defined?"_

"Well, that's the thing, these aren't necessarily emotions but they can affect your emotions."

"Yeah, if your processing matrix was running slow you would say you are tired." Joker offered.

"If you had a dent in your hull you would be bruised." Garrus grinned.

"Bruises don't apply to non-organic beings." Harry rolled his eyes.

"But it could be classed as an injury." Shepard corrected. "What is important is that it would be considered bad and you would be able to label it as making you sad, upset, frustrated… something along those lines."

"Yes, you don't have enough data to differentiate what those feelings would be but you would be able to label them as 'bad'." Harry nodded.

"_I am feeling… fine."_ EDI said hesitantly.

"And we are happy and pleased to hear that." Harry said with a proud smile.

* * *

><p>"Cerberus would be willing to pay a huge amount for this ship." Miranda said in awe as she looked around the inside of the Stingray that had just been delivered.<p>

"It's bigger… on the inside." Jacob was flabbergasted.

"As long as it's got guns." Zaeed tried to appear unimpressed.

Mordin appeared to have gone into shock. The normally verbose and talkative doctor was standing there silently with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"This ship belongs to Harry." Shepard told Miranda firmly. "It was given to him by the Emissary. If Cerberus touches it, scans or even looks at it funny then they will have to deal with quarians, geth, krogan and batarians… each one very pissed."

"Fine, but don't expect the Illusive Man to give up when he finds out." She warned. "Does the ship have a name?"

"Stingray. This is our original ship. It survived the destruction of the Normandy and was repaired."

"Have you considered a new name for our ship?" She asked as they had respected the wishes of the Captain and removed the name Normandy from the hull. Most of the crew was former Alliance and could understand the Captain's feelings.

"Utah." Shepard said respectfully. "This may not be an Alliance ship but most of the crew are former Alliance and are here for the same mission as my old crew. This ship is a Normandy Class frigate so it deserves a name worthy of its crew."

Miranda, Zaeed and Jacob all stood a little straighter at that.

Shepard would explain it to Garrus later.

* * *

><p>Whilst Shepard was showing the team around the latest armament, Harry had headed to his tent to catch some rest and maybe check in with Tali.<p>

He was not impressed when he walked in and saw Jack lounging on his couch reading her OSD whilst eating his food.

"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing?" He growled.

"Relax, there's plenty of room." She said from her reclined position.

"Yes, my room. This is my private area and only my friends are invited and allowed in."

"Should have installed a lock." She smirked.

"Most people just show respect." Harry retorted. "Now get off my couch and get out of my tent." He ordered.

Jack just snorted. "Make me Rich Boy."

"Jack, let me make this very clear to you. If I have to 'make' you leave then you will spend the next few days in the med bay having bones fixed. Shepard and I know for a fact that the Doctor is a Cerberus plant." He said seriously.

Jack jumped up from the couch knocking the bowl of fruit to the floor. "You think you can take me?" She smiled bloodthirstily.

Harry vanished and reappeared in front of her in the blink of an eye. His right hand snapped out and held her off the ground by the throat.

Jack tried to marshal her biotics but they wouldn't respond.

"Every time you trespass on my property or steal my stuff I will break a bone." His left hand grabbed her right, which was trying to pry his fingers off her throat. He was holding her high but not cutting off her airways.

He twitched his fingers and there was a small sounding crack. Jack screamed.

Harry threw her to the entrance of the tent. "In answer to your question; yes I do think I can take you." He said emotionlessly.

Before Harry went to bed he set more wards on his tent. Jack shouldn't have been able to get in but her biotics were clearly powerful enough to press through. He was sure Miranda could do the same so he added some variations to turn them away as well as increasing the power.

* * *

><p>When Harry emerged from his bedroom a few hours later he was pleased to see Shepard and Garrus. It meant that he hadn't made a mistake in the wards and his friends could still enter.<p>

"Jack is screaming attempted rape against you." Shepard said irritably and without preamble.

"And has she submitted herself to the Doctor for an examination?"

"No, she has been treating her arm herself. Actually I found she had threatened Kelly into doing it." Shepard said angrily.

"Is she ok?"

"Kelly is fine. She's not a fighter but she has spirit."

"And an eye for Garrus." Harry grinned at the turian.

"Let's stay on focus." Garrus said uncomfortably. "What are we going to do about these accusation?"

"Did she say where it occurred?"

"In your tent." Shepard answered.

"Did she say I invited her?"

"Yes."

"Where."

"To. Your. Tent." Shepard said in exasperation.

"No, where did I make the invitation?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"She didn't say." Garrus smiled at the bickering pair.

"All activity on the ship is recorded and monitored as per Cerberus' evil policies." Harry shrugged. "I can prove she is lying about being invited which means she was trespassing in my tent. That is a crime, she is a murderer. It is her word against mine and I have more believability."

"I just hope that will be enough for the rest of the crew." Shepard said unhappily.

"We can always have Garrus babysit me until Tali and Shiala arrive." Harry grinned.

"A never ending supply of Harry's verbal diarrhoea." Garrus shuddered. The two humans looked at him in amusement. "That was how Doctor Chakwas described it." He explained.

"Let's go suit up. We should be nearing Korlus." Shepard said as he stood and dragged Harry to his feet.

"EDI, where is Jack?" Harry called out as they exited the tent.

"Jack is in the mess hall."

"Are there other crewmembers present?"

"There are thirteen crewmembers present including Professor Mordin and Executive Officer Miranda Lawson."

"Excellent." Harry grinned evilly. The trio boarded the lift. "Not so excellent." Harry grumbled as the lift began its slow ascent. "Garrus, once we've dealt with Okeer we're working on the lift."

"This is why I've been using the ladders." Garrus smirked.

"I don't have a choice. There is no ladder to my quarters." Shepard frowned.

"That's because the whole loft section can be jettisoned into space." Harry grinned.

"You are joking, right?" The look on Harry's face said it all. That damned grin. "I'm moving in with you and Garrus."

The doors to the lift open and the trio walked around the corner where they saw the crewmembers sitting at the tables and eating or relaxing. Jack was sitting alone at a table designed for twelve. She was glaring at anyone who looked at her and her arm was heavily bandaged.

"Captain on deck!" One of the men shouted and they all jumped to attention.

Shepard didn't say anything as Harry vanished and reappeared next Jack. He grabbed her by the neck, pulling her from her seat before slamming her onto the table smashing her food on her back. He placed a free hand on her lower stomach, which prevented her from struggling too much.

Harry looked around at the crewmembers seriously. "I have been accused of attempted rape. For your benefit I am proving that if I were to attempt rape, I would easily succeed."

He roughly pushed Jack off of the table, she landed in front of Sergeant Gardener in a pile of food.

"I am not a rapist though. I challenge Jack's claims. If she wants her charges to stick she must submit herself for a physical rape exam with the doctor or a medical official.

"If she can prove it I will allow Shepard to place me in custody and ship me off to Bataria for trial."

With that, Harry turned and headed back to the lift.

"For the record, I don't believe a word of Jack's claims." Garrus shrugged. "I know for a fact he has a _very_ hot girlfriend who is dying to get back to him."

"As you were." Shepard said calmly as he turned and the two joined Harry on the lift.

Before the doors could close, Miranda and Mordin nipped in.

"Was that display really necessary?" Miranda scowled.

"Is her presence on this mission really necessary?" Harry countered calmly.

"From tactical standpoint, Jack is a liability." Mordin offered. "Her biotics, powerful? Yes. But her mental instability makes her dangerous to other team members as well as enemy combatants.

"Potential for civilian casualties greatly increased. Collateral damage… ninety percent probability."

"I've made her a deal. If she can't keep to it she goes. But we need to give her a chance first." Shepard said firmly.

"How many chances is she going to get?" Garrus asked reasonably. "She trespassed onto Harry's property and made false accusations. That should count as two already."

"We'll see how she does on this mission, then I'll make a final decision."

"And we don't know that she was lying about the sexual assault." Miranda pointed out with a hint of smugness.

Harry glared at her. "Whilst I have never raped anyone, I have executed quite a few. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The fool I kill today won't be able to hurt others tomorrow.

"Make sure you aren't a fool, Miss Lawson."

The lift doors opened and the crew disembarked. But it was a very thoughtful Mordin who trailed behind.

* * *

><p>Garbage planet.<p>

That was the most apt description of the planet Korlus. There was garbage everywhere. A lot of it was made up of old discarded ships and shuttles. Most of the structures on the planet were made of ship hulls.

"If this is what all you missions are gonna be like I might have to quit now." Jack said in disgust.

Harry put his forehead on Garrus' shoulder. "Please quit, please quit, please quit." Me muttered quietly over and over again to the turian's amusement.

"Harry, take the lead and scout it out." Shepard ordered. "The rest of you, tighten up. This place is swarming with Blue Suns."

"_There is only one measure of success: Kill or be killed! Perfection is your goal."_ A female voice sounded over a speaker system.

"Broadcasting orders over loudspeaker? Charming." Miranda said dryly.

Harry didn't get far before he encountered a lookout post manned by four members of the Blue Suns. He positioned himself carefully before unleashing a powerful biotic throw that crushed them against the far wall.

There was an injured merc nearby, Harry used an _Imperio_ on him to have him wave off an incoming patrol. He then moved off to scout further as he relayed the info back to Shepard over the radio.

Harry had a lot of fun with mercs on over hanging gangways. He apparated up invisibly and calmly walked along, pushing each one off the edge. It seemed unsporting, but he decided that turn about was fair play.

He got bored and started playing with the speaker systems.

* * *

><p>"<em>If you want to succeed in life be sure you are never without your towel."<em> The female voice announced.

"Did she say what I think she did?" Garrus asked quizzically.

"_If you are scared, do what I do and pray to Santa Claus. There is no one more powerful."_

"Who is 'Santa Claus'? An Earth deity?"

"I think Harry might be involved." Shepard sighed.

"_If you feel emasculated because your manhood is too small, stuff your underwear like I stuff my shirt."_

"Definitely Harry." Shepard muttered as he picked up the pace.

They found him talking to a krogan in full armour nearly a mile ahead.

"Guys, meet one of Okeer's experiments." Harry scowled. "This fella is only seven days old and the only thing he knows how to do is fight."

"Seven days?" Jacob asked in surprise.

"Friend or foe, Harry?" Shepard got to the point.

"I need you to move on without me. I'll join you soon enough." Harry said somewhat evasively.

Shepard looked between Harry and the krogan. "I'm leaving Garrus. Don't be long." He said before he moved off.

Jacob had to practically drag Miranda away, she did not like not knowing more about Harry.

"You wanted to know why you decided to speak to me instead of killing me, right?" Harry turned to the krogan. "I am Harry Potter, Emissary of the Geth, the Quarians of Rannoch and the Free People of Bataria. I am the Chief of Clan Gatatog and Clan Weyrloc of the krogan.

"You can sense the krogan on me. True krogan."

"You have come to put an end to my flawed existence." The krogan said calmly, as though accepting that this was necessary.

"No, I knew nothing about you until I met you here." Harry said truthfully. "In your body is the blood of the krogan. Your mind was created imperfect and possibly your body too.

"I am offering you the chance to become a true krogan. I will fix any errors with your body and teach you to become a true krogan."

"I was discarded because I was flawed. I was bred to fight against the enemy of my kind. Survival is what I hear in my head."

"Survival." Harry spat. "Krogan do not 'survive'. They win or they lose. If they lose then they return to seek victory another way but they do not merely survive.

"You will come with me and I will show you the truth of the krogan." Harry ordered.

"I must fight." The krogan said calmly.

"Then you will fight _like_ a krogan. Not some automated mech." Harry said with disgust.

"I will fight as a krogan. Even though I am tank-born." It agreed.

"Your name is now Tank. When you are older and have completed the Rite of Passage you may choose a clan. For now you will come with us and we will fight like krogans." Harry said as he pulled his sword.

The krogan, Tank, pulled his shotgun from his back and nodded.

* * *

><p>"Harry is <em>not<em> going to be happy to see you." Shepard sighed as he stood in front of a familiar asari.

Rana Thanoptis had survived Virmire and found herself once again in Shepard's way.

"But I changed!" She argued frantically. "I've been trying to do good! That's why Matriarch Benezia had me released!"

"How is helping Okeer make krogan test tube babies good?" Shepard asked.

"Because I have been trying to calm him down. He's changed a lot since I arrived here a few months ago. He no longer leaves them mindless, he at least gives them a chance to prove themselves. Like a krogan would want."

"And why are you here?"

"I wanted to try and complete what Saren promised on Virmire. A cure for the genophage."

"Oh my." Mordin gasped mildly.

"I've been to Tuchanka." She glared at the salarian. "I've seen the mountains of dead babies. I'm not even a matron but I wouldn't want that to happen to my daughters."

"I'm getting pretty tired of finding you in the worst of places." Shepard sighed. "You are coming with us. We will send you to Rannoch or Bataria. You can work on a cure there." He paused thoughtfully. "Actually, Tuchanka is setting up some research buildings, we'll see what Wrex and the Emissary decide."

"You mean you aren't going to kill me?" She asked warily.

"If you want to do good then we need to make sure you are able to do good."

"Bloody hell." Harry grumbled as he walked in with Garrus and Tank. "You again?"

"I'm doing good! I'm doing good!" She screeched as she hid behind her arms.

"It's being dealt with Harry." Shepard chuckled. "We'll send her to Wrex or the Emissary where she can work on the genophage."

"Fine." Harry sulked.

"This one is the nurse maid." Tank stated. "She tried to give us new orders."

"Oh?" Harry asked as he looked at Rana sceptically.

"She tried to make us leave the planet and go to Tuchanka. But she is not krogan. Her words meant nothing."

"Huh. Ok, I won't hit you again." Harry nodded.

"See, told ya he likes beating women." Jack sneered.

"I like beating bad people… so I guess I _would_ like beating you." Harry mused.

"Okeer is through here." Rana indicated the door.

Shepard headed through to where they found a laboratory. There were empty slabs for examining krogan, machines on the left wall for analysis and a large krogan in an even larger tank with an old krogan next to it.

"Here you are! I've watched your progress." Okeer declared. "It's about time. The batteries on these tanks will not wait whilst you play with these idiotic mercs."

"Tell me Okeer, why shouldn't I kill you where you stand?" Harry asked calmly.

"What gives you the right to judge me?" Okeer sneered.

"You experimented on your own people. You sold them to the Collectors."

"All to help my people become stronger!" Okeer roared. "I won't argue with a mere human child." He scoffed.

Tank moved forward to defend Harry but Harry just raised a hand to stop him.

"Hmph, you managed to get one of the failures to follow you around like a domesticated varren."

"This one will become a true krogan." Harry said firmly.

"Ha! This is a true krogan." He gestured to the tank. "A pure krogan with only the finest of genetics."

"I don't care about your kid here." Shepard gestured to the tank. "I just want what you know about the Collectors. You've dealt with them. You can tell us all about them and how they are operating."

"_Attention! I have traced the krogan release! Okeer of course."_ Came the sneering voice of Jedore over the internal comms. _"I'm calling 'Blank Slate' on this project. Gas these commandoes and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"_ She ordered.

"She's that weak?" Okeer sneered. "She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve?"

Okeer turned to the console next to the tank. "Shepard! You want information on the Collectors? Stop her! She'll try to access contaminates in the storage bay.

"Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. Kill her… I will stay to do what must be done." He said reluctantly.

"Come on Tank. We need to make sure your brothers die like true krogan." Harry said as he hefted his sword and headed to the door.

The others checked their weapons as they followed.

Tank fought and killed many of his fellow test-tube krogan that day. He felt nothing. Or more to the point, he had no names for the feelings he experienced.

Harry took out Jedore himself. The woman was practically insane. All in all it was a fairly disappointing affair.

"Tank, this was not a real battle." Harry scowled. "This was… a mercy killing. I will tell you when you have experienced a true battle."

Tank just nodded in acceptance of this statement.

Alarms started blaring.

"Alarms in the lab!" Miranda warned. "Damn it, what's Okeer doing back there?"

Shepard led the team back to the lab quickly.

When they arrived, Okeer was on the floor, dead. A recorded message was playing on the console screen.

"_You gave me time Shepard. If I knew why the Collectors wanted humans… I would tell you."_ Okeer's voice was heavy with resignation. _"But everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This lone soldier, this grunt. Perfect."_

The message ended as they watched Okeer die.

"Harry?"

"Sorry Shepard, he's not just gone, he's far gone. That poison was designed to take out a krogan." Harry shook his head as he knelt next to the dead warlord.

"Just how helpful do you think this guy is going to be?" Garrus asked. "Okeer said he put the data in its head, but… I've met Wrex." He grimaced.

"Technically he isn't even born yet." Harry said thoughtfully. "All we can do is birth him and ask."

"There is no telling what Okeer jammed into this thing's head. Releasing it may not be wise." Miranda advised.

"I'm going to release him." Harry said firmly. "The only choices are over whether he stays with us and we do it or we take him back to Tuchanka to learn with other krogan. I would advise keeping him with us." Harry added.

"Oh?" Shepard asked.

"He and Tank will face discrimination from other krogan because of their origins. If they can earn a few victories first then they will have a better position to start from."

"We'll wake the krogan then and see what happens. But we'll do it on ship."

* * *

><p>Once Tank was squared away and the gestation tube with Okeer's 'Legacy' was shoved into the port cargo hold Harry and Shepard went to check in with Joker.<p>

"Just so you know, Captain, I've spoken to a few of the girls and we've set aside some time this afternoon to hold a baby shower for you."

"So… what you're telling me is… that you are considered 'one of the girls'?" Shepard asked with interest.

Joker's face froze. Then his face turned to a sour pout as he turned in his seat back to his controls.

"Joker, can you describe what you are feeling please?" EDI asked innocently.

"Later EDI." He grumbled.

"Joker, I just realised that we still have Gibson in irons. Arrange a prisoner transfer with the nearest Alliance ship." Shepard ordered.

Joker turned around and laughed. "You really think an Alliance ship is going to come within ten light years of a Cerberus ship without trying to blow it out of the galaxy?"

Shepard grimaced. He hadn't thought of that.

"Contact the geth. Have them send a ship." Harry suggested.

"Will that be any better?" Shepard asked.

"Sure, the Alliance loved the geth. They're responsible for saving Terra Nova, dealing with the Luna base, saving your hide… and so on." Harry smiled.

"Make the call Joker. Harry and I have to go and birth a krogan." Shepard said as he grabbed Harry by the shoulder and dragged him off.


	23. Chapter 23

The occupant of Okeer's tank fell to the floor in a wet heap as the amniotic fluid poured on to the floor with him from the tube. It knelt there on all fours as it coughed up the fluid from its lungs.

Harry stood there patiently with Shepard and Tank just behind him.

As the krogan took in its surroundings it noticed Harry and charged.

***THWACK***

***CRASH***

Harry's fist had impacted hard on the krogan's head plate and sent flying straight back into the tank.

"Chief Potter is strong." Tank said with approval as they watched the new krogan slump in the tank.

"Human. Male. My implanted memories say you should be weak." The krogan said in confusion as it stood up. "Before I die… I need a name."

"You haven't earned the right to die, krogan." Harry sneered. "All you've done is get knocked on your ass. Tank here has fought and killed plenty, all you've done is fail."

The krogan considered that for a moment before pounding his fists together. "Then tell me who to kill and I will earn it!"

Harry gave a small smile of approval. "We have plenty of enemies. But first, you need a name. You need a way for your enemies to know you are coming. When they hear your name they should tremble like a pyjack in its hole."

"How about 'Legacy' or 'Okeer'?" Shepard suggested.

"No." Harry shook his head. "A krogan's name is original. He starts with nothing but his name and earns everything. Those names will make other krogan think he is trying to build on someone else's fame."

"Hmph… there are many words from Okeer's implants. He wanted me to be his soldier but his imprinting failed." The krogan mused. "Legacy… Perfection… Soldier… Grunt- Hmm; Grunt. It is short, simple. The last word I heard in the tank."

"And good for battle." Harry nodded. "When you lead your Krantt into battle they will need to be able to get your attention to employ tactics. A long name is a burden, it wastes time."

"Then my name is Grunt and I will earn my death!" The newly christened Grunt exclaimed with no small amount of excitement.

"Good. This is your brother, Tank." Harry gestured to the other krogan. "Okeer considered him a failure. Tank will show why _Okeer_ is a failure as a krogan when he takes his flaws and rams them down the throats of his enemies.

"Family is important. Family is clan. Neither of you can claim a clan yet but you can claim each other as family. You will both live in this room. You can go anywhere in the ship that is not considered private. Teach each other what you know. Grunt, you have the memories of many notable krogan but Tank spent seven days actually fighting. You will be each others Krantt and you will make each other stronger."

"Yes Chief Potter." Tank said calmly.

"Chief?" Grunt asked quizzically.

"I am Harry Potter, Chief of Clan Gatatog and Clan Weyrloc." Harry explained.

"We serve under a Chief of _two_ clans?" Grunt was almost in awe.

"Go to the mess and eat. A weak krogan is one who will be walked over and left to whimper on the battlefield." Harry ordered.

"Yes Chief." Both krogans responded before they headed out of the room.

* * *

><p>Whilst the two krogan were demolishing the mess hall's supplies, Harry, Garrus and Shepard headed to the tent.<p>

"Where's Jack?" Garrus asked as he noticed the tattooed biotic was not outside the tent.

"She decided to make her place in the crawl space between decks." Shepard explained. "She doesn't trust anyone and she knows Harry can smack her down."

"Probably for the best." Garrus nodded. "How do you know so much about krogan culture?" He asked Harry.

"I've been researching since I learned of the genophage." Harry answered. "I liked the way Wrex treated me. I liked how he called me 'Runt'. He wasn't being offensive so I wanted to know what his culture was like."

"I bet that came in handy when you took over the two clans." Shepard smirked.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" Harry said emphatically. "It is the only reason why nearly every krogan baby isn't called Potter or Harry!"

"Wrex was going to name his kids after you?" Garrus asked with a laugh.

"No, the females were. Although when we did the naming ceremony a lot of the new fathers kept trying to make Harry and Potter sounding names." He frowned.

"Naming ceremony?" Shepard asked.

"We all got drunk and had a burping competition." Harry grinned. "Whatever sound is the most intelligible is made a name."

"No, seriously, what's involved." Garrus asked eagerly.

"I am serious. That is how the males name their children. Unfortunately a lot of krogans now have names that sound like 'Hurrgh' or 'Par'."

"Shepard, how soon can we make a stop on Tuchanka?" Garrus asked.

"I'm just here for you to mock, aren't I?" Harry glared at him.

"Yes."

He glared at both of them.

* * *

><p>It was a few hours later that Shepard made an emergency call over the ships PA system. <em>"All hands prepare for battle stations. Ground team members suit up. We will be arriving at the Horizon Colony in forty minutes. It has just gone dark and we have reports of Collectors."<em>

As Shepard stepped down from the galaxy map he was snagged by Kelly Chambers. "Captain, the Illusive Man wishes to speak with you. He seemed fairly urgent."

"Now is not a good time Kelly." Shepard frowned. "Tell him our situation. I'll deal with him when we have finished on Horizon. That… or take a message"

"I… yes Captain." She said hesitantly.

"Shepard, what's the word?" Harry asked as he exited the lift.

"I just got word from our contacts. Horizon is under attack."

"Is Mordin ready?"

"If he's not then we are going to have the unenviable position of front row seats to the abduction of an entire colony."

"I'll have a geth ship sent. They won't be affected by the Seeker Swarms." Harry nodded. "Any word on Ash?"

"Communications with Horizon were being jammed. We don't know if they managed to get word to the Alliance but I've forwarded our data."

* * *

><p>The first issue they had when they arrived at Horizon was that there was a huge Collector ship that had landed in the heart of the colony.<p>

They couldn't just attack it as all their information said that the colonists were being loaded onto the ship.

"We need a plan people. We can't let that ship leave with the colonists." Shepard scowled.

"Diversion and rescue." Garrus suggested. "If we send a ground team to the edge of the colony and have them start engaging the Collectors we can send a second team to sneak in and get the colonists out."

"What I wouldn't give for a Marine detachment." Shepard grumbled. "Does anyone else have a better plan?"

"A krogan would ignore the colonists and annihilate the enemy." Grunt said firmly.

"Only if the colonists were dead or hostages." Harry corrected. "Besides, some things are changing for the krogan. We fight for more than just victory now. We are changing the definition of victory." Harry said proudly.

"You can debate that later. We will move with Garrus' plan." Shepard decided. "Harry, does the Dog Star have a geth platform compliment?"

"Fifty platforms of varying design." Harry confirmed.

"Take Garrus, Grunt and Tank and cover the geth. They can work on transporting the colonists.

"The rest of you are with me. We will hit the Collectors hard."

"Will we be using the Stingray?" Jacob asked.

"No, we don't want to spook the Collectors into leaving with the colonists they already have on board."

Shepard turned to Harry and Garrus. "Garrus if worst comes to worst, bug out and abandon the ship. Whilst the colonists are your priority, Harry is more important."

"Understood, Shepard." Garrus said sombrely.

* * *

><p>Before Harry and his team could do anything, they needed to ensure that the Collector ship couldn't leave. That meant they had to disable the engines.<p>

Harry had flown to various points of the ship on a broomstick and applied his biotic disrupters. These were quickly modified to disrupt any mass effect field.

Next they had to begin clearing out the ship, but they didn't want all the Collectors running back to the ship so they had to wait until Shepard and the others were fully engaged.

"I feel useless." Grunt muttered as they crouched down out of sight behind the engines. "We should be fighting."

"We want a victory Grunt. What is the point of killing if you don't win?" Harry chided lightly.

"Still… I need to hit something."

"Very soon." Harry promised. A light went off on Garrus' omni-tool and the turian gave him a nod. "Like now. Boys, go and earn your victory." He ordered.

Grunt and Tank were on their feet instantly and charging a group of four Collectors who were guarding the entrance to the ship.

At the same time multiple whistling noises were heard above before ten geth hit the ground.

"Let's move Harry." Garrus said as he stood.

The duo quietly moved around the fight and snuck into the ship. They needed to do an assessment of how many colonists had been taken.

Horizon had a population of around 900,000. The Collectors had been on the planet for about an hour.

"Spirits, there has to be at least a thousand people in here already!" Garrus gasped as he saw pods filled with humans lining the dark brown, organic looking walls. "How long until the fleet arrives?"

"Hackett is a day away. The geth carrier fleet is six hours." Harry said unhappily as they continued to walk. "Four contacts ahead." Harry warned.

"Can you take them out silently?"

"I'll try." Harry said as he vanished from sight.

* * *

><p>The problem for Shepard's team was that they needed to hold their ground. This also meant that they couldn't be too efficient in dealing with the Collectors or they might get suspicious when the attackers didn't advance from their position.<p>

"Shepard! Our ammo is running low!" Miranda called out. "We can't afford to keep missing."

The team was firing a lot of wide shots on purpose.

"Then pretend you are out and start moving those pods out of the way." Shepard called back. "Try and rely on biotics."

"We will still run out of energy!" She argued.

There was a distant whistling noise that grew steadily louder.

Jacob's eyes widened. "INCOMING MORTAR!" He shouted as he dived for cover.

There was a loud thud and an explosion of dust from behind them. As the air cleared it revealed a large box.

"Oh… it's just an ammo drop." Jacob said with embarrassment as he scrambled back to his firing position.

"Pussy." Jack smirked as she began firing on the Collectors again.

"_Shepard Captain, we have developed a new program for nanites that will free the colonists from stasis."_ The geth announced from Shepard's omni-tool.

"No! The last thing we need is thousands of panicky colonists running into lines of fire." Shepard said quickly. "See if you can locate and free Ashley. She can guide you to colonists who can fight."

"_Acknowledged."_

* * *

><p>"Harry… this is one of those times when we've bitten of more than we can chew, isn't it?" Garrus said with fearful awe.<p>

The pair were standing inside a huge chamber. The walls of this chamber were lined with hundreds of thousands… possibly millions, of stasis pods.

"Yeah… but we're committed now so we'll just have to swallow it whole." Harry said with clear worry.

"There is no way we are going to be able to get all these people out of here. Some of these have to be from other colonies." Garrus said frustratedly.

"Well… we'll just have to seize the ship and destroy the Collectors." Harry said firmly as he squared his shoulders.

"Harry! This place is a Spirits be damned fortress! There are only two of us." Garrus argued.

Harry just gave him a grin. "You've never gotten a fly in your eye? This is a giant and we are the flies… and we sting."

* * *

><p>"I am going to hit you so hard when this is over." Ashley scowled as she slid into cover next to Shepard. "Then I am going to snog your brains out."<p>

"Nice to see you too Sweetheart." Shepard responded dryly. "Did the geth fill you in?"

"This was Harry's plan, wasn't it?" She asked knowingly.

"No, Garrus."

"I am so kicking his scaly hide."

"More shooting less talking!" Zaeed shouted over the sound of gunfire at the pair.

"Shove it old man!" Ashley responded.

"_**Assuming direct control."**_

"What the hell is that?" Ashley demanded as she watched one of the collectors appear to glow like lava rock.

"Harbinger." Shepard said calmly. "That specific Collector now has a biotic barrier, armour and some sort ability that I've never seen before."

"And Harbinger is…?"

"No idea."

"_**Shepard, you could have been useful."**_

"But he seems to know me." Shepard gave her a look that showed he didn't really care before he began firing rapidly at the glowing Collector.

Ashley quickly joined him, waiting for Shepard to bring down the barrier before finishing this 'Harbinger' with incendiary rounds.

"Damn! That took a whole clip!" Ashley muttered as she ducked back down and switched out the spent thermal clip.

"Did you manage to rally any of the colonists?" Shepard asked.

"They didn't trust me before the attack so I don't want to test them in the middle of it. I swear most of them were just waiting and plotting to shoot me in the back. Alliance Command should give me a medal for staying here." She scowled before popping up and landing a nice head shot.

"_**I will direct this personally."**_

"He's back already?" Ashley tried not to whine.

"He pops up again every time we drop him."

"_**Shepard, you should have brushed your teeth this morning."**_

Ashley and Shepard shared a look. "Harry." They said in unison.

"Everybody focus fire on the drones. Do not, I repeat, do _not_ target Harbinger!" Shepard ordered the squad.

"_**Lawson, your panty lines are showing."**_

Miranda was fairly pissed. Mainly because she had been caught checking her butt by Jacob and Jack at 'Harbinger's' comment.

"We are pushing forward people!" Shepard commanded.

"_**Taylor, you will be roasted for our dinner."**_

"Why aren't we shooting that thing?" Jacob called out worriedly.

"Hey! Harbinger, your girlfriends gonna be pissed when she hears you were checking out another woman's ass." Ashley grinned.

The possessed drone faltered mid-step.

"_**I am Harbinger. I am the terror that flaps in the night. I will share your extranet histories if you speak of me."**_

Ashley had a triumphant grin as she refocused and began pushing forward.

All of a sudden weapons fire from the defence turrets on the Collector Cruiser began shooting at the surface of the planet around it.

"_Shepard? This is Garrus, do you read me?"_

"I read you Garrus, are you the one firing the Collector weapons?"

"_It's not Harry, he's too busy getting in trouble with his girlfriend."_ The turian chuckled.

"We are pushing forward, was there a reason you didn't rescue the colonists and just leave?" Shepard asked as he ducked behind a pillar and let his team take out a squad of Collectors.

Harbinger had taken the lead and seemed to be doing most of the damage though.

"_Yes, around twelve million reasons."_ Shepard could hear the anger in Garrus' voice. _"This ship contains the entire populations of at least three of the colonies, including Freedom's Progress."_

"It was a tough call Garrus, but I am firmly behind you both on this one." Shepard was actually relieved.

"_We appreciate it."_ Garrus said sincerely. _"The krogan and geth are working their way through the ship towards us but they could use the back up. Harry and I are holed up in the command centre."_

"You went in alone?" Ashley demanded.

"_Ash? Great to hear from you. How's life?"_ Garrus asked casually.

"You two are idiots, Vakarian!" Ashley growled.

"_Heroic idiots?"_

"Moronic."

"_Maybe that means something different in your language."_ Garrus decided.

"Garrus, we are nearly to the ship. Just keep clearing a path and we will be there soon." Shepard promised.

"_Copy that."_

* * *

><p>By the time the team had reached the command centre of the cruiser, the two krogan along with the geth had already annihilated every Collector on board.<p>

"Cerberus will probably pay you several large fortunes for this ship." Miranda was impressed as she looked around.

"No sale." Harry said calmly. "As soon as the colonists are off this ship then we will be chucking it in the sun."

"But this is a gold mine of information!" She argued.

"It is also ready to self destruct." He explained calmly. "The only reason it hasn't is because I am sitting here and halting the countdown."

"Can't you disable it?" Shepard asked.

Harry shook his head. "All the controls are in my head. I don't think _anyone_ else could do what I am doing." He said, making a pointed reference to the fact that they both had synthetic brains.

"_I may be able to assume control."_ EDI offered over the radio.

"No, there is more to this than just technology or even biotics. You saw Harbinger throwing around those attacks. You need pure dark energy to control this thing.

"The geth fleet will arrive soon and we will begin evacuating the colonists. When the Alliance fleet arrives they can handle the logistics of getting the humans from other colonies back home.

"You just focus on data mining."

* * *

><p>Harry spent the better part of an hour shooting down every attempt by Miranda to save the ship and get him to turn it over to Cerberus.<p>

Eventually he got fed up and ordered Grunt and Tank to take her off the ship. They literally picked her up by the armpits and carried her out.

Ashley had already dragged Shepard to an abandoned corridor where she spent several minutes attached to him at the mouth.

They eventually came up for air.

"Do you still need to stay with these Cerberus fools?" She asked as they rested their foreheads together.

"If I am going to complete my mission then yes." He sighed. "I'm just worried that I am going to have to get dirty to do it."

"I can understand how important this is, Skipper, but make sure you keep you soul clean, at the end of the day it's all you've got." She warned compassionately.

"If necessary I'll break off and work with Harry in a direct attack." He promised. "Where's Kaiden?"

"I don't know, his mission was completely secret and he hasn't given any of us a hint of what he is doing." She scowled.

* * *

><p>By the time Admiral Hackett arrived with the Fifth Fleet, Harry, using automated procedures he had found whilst connected, had removed all the colonists from the Collector ship.<p>

The geth were currently escorting the ship, with Harry on board, to a position just within the system's sun.

In order to escape the ship in time Harry would have to apparate to the geth ship.

When Harry arrived back at Freedom's Progress he was exhausted.

"Mr. Potter, do you have time to debrief?" Hackett asked.

"Sure, just… can you get me some food whilst we talk?"

In short order, Harry, Garrus, Shepard and Ashley were sitting in the Admiral's quarters whilst they talked.

"You and Mr. Vakarian have just single handedly saved the entire populations of five whole colonies." Hackett said seriously. "Mr. Vakarian, I have been told in no uncertain terms that the next time you set foot in Alliance territory you will be awarded the Star of Terra."

"I- Thank you… I'm honoured." Garrus said. He was completely surprised. He would be the first turian to ever be honoured in such a manner by humans. Despite the close working partnership that they had developed, turians were still looked at with distrust, the First Contact war had occurred less than thirty years ago.

"Above and beyond, Mr. Vakarian, you went _above and beyond_ the call of duty." Hackett repeated firmly. "Harry, I have several high-ranking officials who are debating giving you _another_ Star of Terra or simply sending a warning to the geth and batarians to have you given a psych eval."

Ashley looked so embarrassed as she snorted a laugh. "Sorry sir."

"Not to worry Chief." Hackett assured her. "I am considering reassigning you to Shepard just so you can maintain a closer watch on Harry. You have the most experience and possibly the most influence over him in certain matters."

"I can't say I'd be disappointed." Ashley admitted. "Aside from being back with the team, the colonists here are openly hostile."

"I can sort that out for you." Harry grinned.

"We'll take it under advisement." Hackett said quickly. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear what Harry would do.

"I'll have a decision on your assignment by the morning, Chief." Hackett informed Ashley.

"Aye sir."

"I assume you haven't managed to make any real progress with Cerberus?" Hackett turned to Shepard.

"Harry and the geth managed to… well, I'd use the term 'subvert', but really they just re-educated an AI they created."

"An AI?" Hackett winced.

"Based on and made with Reaper tech." Garrus said pointedly.

"Sweet Jesus." Hackett cursed. "I swear, if we had even a hint of their primary locations then I would call the mission off and send you in guns blazing."

He forced himself not to smash the table top in anger. "As it stands, just that one piece of information is enough to prove how important your mission is, Captain.

"Williams, the decision is made, you are assigned to Captain Shepard, your primary mission is to act as a bodyguard and advisor for Harry Potter, an important asset to the Alliance, the Council and the Emissary. You are also promoted immediately to first lieutenant. I'll have your bars sent over."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." She said with a slight flush.

"I'm also upping your N rating to 7. I know you were due back at the Villa to retest but I've seen you in action and I know for a fact you can drive better than some people." He gave Shepard a very dry look as Garrus and Harry looked away to hide their grins.

"Sir, do you have any information on Alenko?" Shepard asked.

Hackett pursed his lips. "All I can tell you is that he is on assignment and even telling you _that_ is too much. Rest assured I am keeping track of him and that you will be the first people I will call if he needs help. I'm sure he can contact you himself if necessary."

Hackett stood up and the others followed suit. "Officially, the Alliance and the Council does not approve of you working with Cerberus. They will uphold your rank and spectre status but will not see fit to aid you in any manner. This includes basic information.

"Unofficially, myself, Anderson and the Council hope you complete your mission soon and pray to god we aren't just distracting you from the Reaper threat."

* * *

><p>"I'm disappointed in you Shepard." The Illusive man shook his head as he sat in his chair. "You had an entire Collector ship sitting there and you let it get destroyed."<p>

"The ship was about explode and Potter was sitting on a dead man's switch."

"You could have waited. Cerberus ships could have arrived and examined the ship."

"I had over twelve million colonists on the planet, if that ship had exploded-"

"I don't care about twelve million colonists!" The Illusive Man barked angrily. "I'm looking at billions! I am looking at the big picture."

"Careful there, you're making me think we should revisit our arrangement here." Shepard said calmly. "I have to say I am not all that keen to work with someone who would so easily throw away all those people."

The Illusive Man leant back tiredly and rubbed his brow. "I'm not a monster, Shepard. I'm not insensitive to these people's lives. I'm just trying to make sure that there will still be humans left if the Reapers ever make it here."

"Well now the Collectors have one less ship and we have twelve million more humans, a fair percentage of which have been making inquiries about signing up with the Alliance. Not to mention that the Collectors can't attack as many colonies as before.

"Plus we have all the data that EDI managed to collect."

The Illusive man chuckled. "Perhaps you do see the bigger picture." He admitted. "Continue building your team, Captain. I will contact you if I have any more intelligence." He said as he closed the connection.

"An intelligent Cerberus Operative? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

Shepard turned and smirked at Harry. "I think the same could be said of you. So, you decided not to butt in?"

"Why? You had him right where you needed him. I'm not stupid enough to mess with a good thing."

"No, just stupid enough to take on a Collector ship with only two people."

* * *

><p>"So Miranda, how many ships has Cerberus lost so far in their bid to retrieve Collector tech from Horizon's sun?" Harry asked with a grin as he joined her and Jacob at a table in the mess.<p>

"Three." She admitted with a scowl. "Although two were unmanned."

She knew there was no point trying to hide the fact that Cerberus had attempted to retrieve some of the debris. The geth were still in the area and their sensors were some of the most advanced in the galaxy.

"And yet one was a cruiser. Just how many people did the Illusive Man sacrifice in a doomed attempt to gain superiority in the galaxy?"

"It was… not the decision I would have made." Miranda allowed. "But the Illusive Man sees things from a bigger perspective."

"The bottom line." Jacob scoffed quietly, it earned him a half-hearted glare.

"At least the two of you can see he isn't perfect, at least." Harry sighed. "EDI is going to need quite a while to go through all she found. Shepard said he wanted to look for the remaining subjects of your dossiers and look for our old team."

"You seem more enthusiastic about our suggestions now." Miranda allowed herself a small superior smile. "Have you seen enough of our previous recommendations to trust us more?"

Harry laughed. "Your only decent recommendation was Mordin, Zaeed still has some question marks over him! The other two were a krogan chucked off his own planet for war crimes and a psychotic murderer… you _do_ remember the crap we had to deal with when Jack came on board?"

"So why do you seem more approving of the other recommendations?" Jacob asked before Miranda could start in on him.

"The assassin, Thane Krios, I've see his hit-list. He has morals; he keeps the galaxy clean.

"Samara, the Justicar, she's the asari equivalent of a spectre. I'm a little worried about how fanatical she might be, but hopefully it won't be an issue.

"Kasumi is a thief. She hits only the rich and never bankrupts anyone. She usually only steals from other criminals.

"None of these people are likely to try and murder us in our sleep… except Samara, she might take one look at your Cerberus logos and go nuts." He amended.

"Cerberus has nothing to hide." Miranda said stubbornly.

"Erm… Miranda…?"

She looked at Jacob curiously.

"We are a very secretive organisation, we work for someone called the 'Illusive Man' who rules his 'Illusive Empire'. We hide _everything_." He said pointedly.

"I meant that we have done nothing to be ashamed of." She said irritably.

"Ah, so you found out why Cerberus was unleashing rachni and thresher maws on Alliance soldiers?" Harry asked with a sage look.

Miranda looked like she had sucked on a lemon.

"_Harry, can you join me outside."_ Shepard asked over the PA.

"Saved by the boss." Harry grinned as he stood up and walked out.

* * *

><p>Harry exited the airlock onto the ramp to find Shepard and Ashley being confronted by a large crowd of angry colonists, there were maybe three hundred individuals there.<p>

"You said you could deal with this. Here's your chance." Shepard said as he stepped aside.

"What is the problem?" Harry asked.

"You! You are the problem!" An older man, maybe sixty years old, at the front shouted loudly so everyone nearby could hear him. "You are just going to leave us here defenceless!"

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Harry shrugged.

"We were almost abducted and you are going to leave us here for them to try again!"

"Again, isn't that what you wanted?" Harry repeated. "You left the Alliance because you didn't want anything to do with them or the Citadel. Despite that, they still sent Williams here to protect you… what do you do? Treat her like shit and sabotage the great big gun she brought."

"We don't want an Alliance spy!" The man snarled.

"But you want protection? So, do you don't want it from the Alliance? How about Cerberus? They have a lovely documented history of experimenting on humans without their permission. Captain Shepard has not only stopped several of their illegal (and quite frankly, horrifying) experiments, but he was also a victim of one of them… thresher maws on Akuze wasn't it?" He turned to his friend.

Shepard just nodded, his face set in stone.

"What about the geth?" Someone shouted out.

"What about them?"

"Make them protect us!"

This was met by various shouts of agreement.

"'Make them'?"

Ashley and Shepard shared a concerned look behind Harry. They recognised that tone in his voice. It usually spelt bad things for the recipient.

"What gives you inbred fools the right to make demands of the geth?" Harry growled.

"They're just robots! They can be programmed."

Harry just looked at the man blankly for a moment. "You know what, you're right. They can be programmed. But so can humans. It's called 'brain-washing'.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't brainwash the lot of you and make you serve the geth?"

"We- we have rights!"

"You gave them up when you left Council space. You were warned that by coming this close to the Terminus Systems you would be at huge risks from pirates, slavers and the annual Terminus Invasion fleet."

"So you're just going to leave us here to die?" The man said angrily.

"Me? Sure." Harry shrugged. "I have _zero_ respect for you. My advice to the Alliance is to let you rot in the grave you've dug for yourself. But, they are your best chance at surviving. My recommendation is that you put together a diplomatic party and go and beg the Alliance and the Citadel for help and protection.

"Of course, you'll have to allow yourselves to be subject to their laws… but hey, nothing is free."

"Maybe we will stay here. Maybe we will take your ships." The man said as he pulled a pistol slowly from his jacket.

Harry looked worried for a second. "Whoa, let me talk to the Emissary, maybe he can do something." He said as he put a hand to his temple.

"Sir? Yes, I'm on Horizon… the colonists are demanding protection… threatening to take our ships. Yes sir… I understand sir… Right away sir."

Ashley and Shepard calmly moved backwards and rested their hands on the butts of their pistols as Harry carried on his 'conversation'.

Harry looked up and wiped his brow of imaginary sweat. "Ok… I spoke to the Emissary himself."

"Glad he could see reason." The man smirked as he caressed the barrel of his pistol.

"I believe he has, yes." Harry nodded. His hand whipped out with pistol in hand and he fired a single shot into the man's leg and he fell to the ground screaming.

Ashley and Shepard quickly drew their weapons as several colonists drew theirs.

The sound of empty weapons fire was heard.

"By order of the Emissary of the Geth, the Free People of Rannoch and Bataria, the colony of Horizon is hereby annexed." Harry announced loudly. "A compliment of geth shall enforce the laws of Rannoch until a treaty can be arranged with the Human Alliance.

"Attempts at insurrection will be met with deadly force. Anyone who survives will be assigned hard labour."

"We can still take them!" Someone yelled as they brandished a large stick.

Harry's cybernetic eyes zeroed in on the speaker and he stretched out his hands, physically dividing the colonists with his biotics to create a path as he stalked towards idiot.

The man paled at the display.

Harry lifted him off the ground, biotically. "Attempts at insurrection will be met with deadly force." He repeated. "Do you surrender?"

"I surrender! I surrender!" The man squealed.

Harry used his power to slam the man into the ground painfully.

"Williams, get this fool out of my sight. Hand him over to the geth for his punishment. Five years of hard labour." Harry sneered at the groaning man.

Ashley quickly complied before Harry decided to go further.

"Follow the rules and you will find life no different than before the Collectors arrived. Break them and I might not be so kind as to offer you a chance to surrender." Harry said dangerously.

As he turned and stalked to the ship the air was filled with whistling sounds as hundreds of geth began falling from the skies.

"Please disperse and return to your regular activities." A geth prime instructed as it unfolded.


	24. Chapter 24

"So… you're the one who tried to accuse Harry of rape."

Jack scowled as she saw Lieutenant Ashley Williams sit down opposite her in the mess hall.

"You are really lucky Shiala and Tali weren't here at the time. Shiala probably would have killed you on principle."

"What do you want? I'm trying to eat." She sneered.

"Just a warning. If you ever try anything like that again, I might space you myself."

"Like you could." Jack said dismissively.

"With ease." Ashley smirked.

"You think I'm on this ship because of my art work?" Jack slapped her arm to indicate her tattoos. "They want me here because I am the strongest biotic around. I-"

"Would get your ass whooped by Kaiden or Harry. If Shiala were here she could do it whilst calmly eating her meal." Ashley interrupted. "The only reason you haven't been handed over to the Alliance is because the Skipper made you an offer. But screw up and he'll walk away and leave you in the care of myself and Harry."

"The Man thinks he can just order me to lay down and fuck him? Hell no. When I fuck, _I_ ride." Jack sneered.

"Only one woman gets to 'ride' Shepard, and it isn't you. Same goes for Harry."

"Thanks Ash, now I feel like a horse at a circus." Shepard grumbled as he and Harry sat down either side of her.

"I've never been to the circus. Do they still have those on Earth?" Harry asked.

"Sure, it's a cultural thing though. I don't see the draw myself." Shepard nodded. He turned to look at Jack. "You did well on Horizon. You managed to work with the team."

"It was pointless. Holding the line like that." She scoffed.

"We had a complete victory. We achieved far more than we set out to." Shepard countered lightly.

"Grunt and Tank are drinking my ryncol downstairs and celebrating the whole thing." Harry grumbled. "But I guess they earned it." He admitted.

"Wrex is gonna be pissed when we tell him what we've been up to." Ashley chuckled.

"So Jack, did you find anything in the files?" Shepard asked.

"Some stuff." She admitted. "I'm still digging. But I'm getting close, I can feel it." She said with a passionate eagerness that bordered on insane.

"Well, we are going to be heading to the Citadel for now. We are picking up Kasumi Goto and I want to try and meet with the Council, or at least Anderson." Shepard said.

"I guess I can visit Sha'ira." Harry mused. "I also want to see the club, see how they are doing."

"Is the Emissary on the Citadel?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, but he has been staying in his quarters a lot… paperwork and all that." Harry explained.

* * *

><p>"Alright people, we need to have a long talk about things." Harry said as he paced in front of the mixture of batarian, quarians and geth.<p>

He was standing in the Emissary's office in the Wards of the Citadel. Slumped in the chair behind the desk was a duplicate of himself. It was simply an advanced geth platform with his cloned skin.

That part really creeped everyone out.

"I am_ not_ a leader! My signature is not needed for every little thing! I definitely shouldn't be making major decisions about government." He said passionately.

"B- But Master, you are the Emissary." The batarian ambassador said nervously.

It was a terrible thing to see, when the man was in meetings with the Council or other ambassadors he was a fearless lion… put him in front of Harry and he was like a little puppy.

"And stop calling me 'Master'! My name is Harry! I like my name, far too few people use it." Harry whined.

"Of course Emissary." The group said with reverence.

There was the sound of chuckling from the behind him and he turned and glared at Ash.

"This is not funny, they're trying to exchange one master for another… oh sweet Merlin… I sound like Hermione." Harry gasped in realisation as he slumped on to the edge of the desk.

Ashley calmed her mirth as she stepped forward… she was still smiling. "Let me ask you all a question: Why do you revere Harry so much? I know he freed you all nearly single-handedly, but still, you seem to do everything he says unless it means treating him like one of you."

"He is the Emissary!" The Ambassador said with wide eyes. "The geth have told us of how he traversed time and space to lead them into the galactic community alongside organics. And he succeeded!

"But the geth believe that now he was sent to bring peace to the galaxy, to mend old bridges. Already he has brought the krogan closer to the rest of the Emissary's Free People."

"Isn't that an oxymoron? 'The Emissary's Free People'?" Ashley asked.

One of the geth platforms, the newer models with more humanoid features stepped forward. "Negative. An individual must willingly choose to be one of the Emissary's Free People. All freedoms are retained."

"Be nice if the Emissary got to choose." Harry grumbled.

Ashley rolled her eyes before stepping up and clapping her hands in a business like fashion. "Alright people, new rules:

"One: Unless there is about to be an invasion, more than one hundred people are about to die in a disaster or there is a similar threat to the safety of the Emissary's Free People, deal with it yourselves." She instructed. "Harry's lifespan is about seventy years, if you don't start learning now then you will be screwed when he dies. If you need help, ask the human ambassadors for advice.

"Two: Setup some sort of team or council, they make decisions and bring major problems to Harry.

"Three: If you have problems _with_ Harry then come see me or Shepard. We'll put him back in line." She said firmly. "That is all, are we clear?"

Ashley suddenly felt a lot more sympathy when every head turned to Harry expectantly.

* * *

><p>"Harry, Mordin is here." Ashley said as she poked her head into his office.<p>

"Who does he want to speak to?" Harry asked.

"Harry Potter _and_ the Emissary." She winced.

Harry looked over at the inert and powered down duplicate of himself and sighed. "Well this is going to be fun."

As he stood up the duplicate powered up and took Harry's place behind the desk. Harry went and sat in one of the chairs opposite.

"Send him in." The duplicate nodded.

Harry was going to have such a headache, it was one thing to control a copy of himself from far away whilst he did his own thing, but it was a lot harder when he had to have a conversation with himself.

Mordin entered silently.

"Mordin, meet the Emissary, Emissary, Professor Mordin Solus." Harry introduced.

Mordin remained silent, staring intently between the two.

Eventually he smiled brightly. "Impressive! Cannot determine which is fake without proof but believe that one is simulation." He pointed at the duplicate.

"Excuse me?" The duplicate asked slightly offended.

"You are Harry Potter and the Emissary. That is a simulation, possibly geth platform. Unsure whether you have direct control or use modified AI or VI." He told Harry.

"You know what? I just can't be bothered." Harry sighed as he ejected his wand, he sent a binding curse at Mordin just as several geth stormed in.

Sure, the duplicate was identical to Harry in everyway… but there was a spell on Harry to prevent them making the connection.

The duplicate calmly moved to the side where it stood and powered down.

"Violence… unnecessary, meant no harm." Mordin remarked, although it was clear he was more interested in the ropes that bound him.

"I don't really care." Harry said as he sat in his chair at his desk as Ashley came back in with her gun out. "He figured out about me being the Emissary and that being a duplicate." He gestured to his doppelganger.

"I thought this was all protected by magic." Ashley frowned.

"Nothing is infallible. Mordin just happens to have an amazing mind. Plus I couldn't use the more advanced magics for this on a person."

"Thank you." Mordin said appreciatively.

Harry just glared at the salarian, standing there with magical ropes wrapped tightly around him.

"If you don't mean harm then why bring this up?" Harry asked.

Mordin frowned thoughtfully. He then looked unconcerned and shrugged. "Personal curiosity. Was able to deduce your identity but needed to be sure. Proof now explains many things. Personal outrage over genophage and slavery. Close connection to geth. Certain claims you made. Ability to sway the mind of Captain Shepard."

"I don't touch his mind." Harry said offendedly.

"Not mind control. He respects you. You are young for a human. Seemingly inexperienced. But he listens to you."

"Oh."

"Just so we are clear, you confronted Harry about being the Emissary… because you were curious?" Ashley asked.

"Of course." Mordin was non-plussed by the question.

"Nosy little bastard, aren't you?" She remarked.

Mordin frowned. "Salarians do not have noses."

That one took Ashley aback.

Harry just grinned at her. "Welcome to my world."

* * *

><p>It turned out that Mordin was far more interested in learning everything he could about Harry and his abilities than trying to disseminate the information. Like Kaiden used to, he doubted it was really magic that Harry used.<p>

Harry had called in one of the geth and left the two of them to it.

Harry decided to check in with the Council whilst he was on the Citadel, or more precisely, Anderson, Aethyta and Quietus.

"I have a very bad feeling that once this Reaper business comes to a head and is finally dealt with, we are all going to suffer the same fate as our predecessors." Aethyta scowled. "I avoided politics for a reason. Everybody stabs everybody else in the back.

"Our governments are refusing to take any action about the Reapers. My girl has had to relocate to Illium so she can access more intel. The Matriarchs are pressuring me to shut her operation down!"

"Tell them to talk to me." Harry frowned. "Liara's operation is owned and licensed by me. It is part of the Free People's government. They have no right to interfere."

"What Aethyta means is-"

"I'll speak for myself, thank you." She scowled at Quietus. The Turian just smiled.

Anderson and Quietus had quickly gotten used to Aethyta's blunt and often abrasive manner. But she was a good person, just passionate.

"The bitches are demanding that I take my daughter to task, that I turn her into some spy for Thessia."

"Do it." Harry shrugged. "We'll make sure that Liara gets useful information but nothing that will damage our work." He smirked at their incredulous looks. "Let's face it, Liara is going to be reporting to them on what she finds. What she will hopefully be finding is proof of the Reapers."

"We could 'couch' what she finds in military reports." Quietus mused. "Make it seem like the geth are investigating the technology of the Reapers for benign projects that could easily be turned into military assets."

"Yes… but we won't be able to offer much help ourselves." Anderson sighed. "The Alliance is being just as stubborn as your governments. Hackett is having a hard time keeping them from issuing a warrant for Shepard's arrest for working with a terrorist organisation.

"If ExoGeni was a purely human company still, they would have seized it already."

"I can't imagine us being stuck with Cerberus much longer. I've got agents who have already infiltrated the Illusive Man's base. I could blow the whole thing up right now… but we'd be cleaning up stray cells for centuries." Harry explained.

"What are you waiting for then?" Aethyta demanded.

"Shepard wants to get a better handle on the Illusive Man." Harry sighed. "Whilst I want to just gut him and be done with it, Shepard is right. We do need to make sure that we understand him and how he thinks.

"Cronos Station, Cerberus Headquarters, is massive. Their networks are immense and span far into the Terminus Systems. We are just biding our time until my agents have enough information and control to take down Cerberus in its entirety."

"I hate waiting." Aethyta did her best to turn her pout into a scowl.

She failed.

* * *

><p>"This is getting bloody ridiculous!" Harry exclaimed as he glared at the lithe figure he had discovered in his tent. "This place gets more traffic than Kings Cross Station!"<p>

"I was lost?" The woman wearing a hood smiled cheekily.

"And you decided that you could find your way if you started stealing my stuff." Harry nodded in understanding.

There was a slight clatter as a small photo frame containing a magical image of Harry's parents was dropped back onto the side table as the woman tried to look innocent.

"How did you even find this place? It was bad enough when Jack found it, but now you can too? Are you a biotic?" He asked suspiciously as he began circling the woman.

"No." She said, slightly bewildered that the man hadn't pulled a weapon on her for trespassing.

That _was_ the usual procedure on finding an intruder.

He stopped in front of her and stared into her eyes. "Ah, implants. Well have you finished raiding my rooms, Miss Goto?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Erm… I…"

"I really hope you can find what you intend to steal better than you can find words to speak." Harry smirked.

Now she glared at him.

"The exit is there. I know _everything_ that is mine. Don't try stealing it or I'll-"

"Hey! I don't steal from friends or allies!" She said defensively. "At least… not until we part ways. Then I'll loot you to the bedrock." She admitted.

"Well you were about to steal one of the few images I have of my parents." He held up the moving picture. "They died when I was one and I would appreciate it if you didn't try and take away all I have of them."

"You expect me to believe you don't have copies?" She countered.

"Take a real close look." Harry held the photo closer. "This isn't a video, this is beyond our means to duplicate. Now get out or I'll toss you out."

"Fine! Keep your fancy toys and… baths!" She said as she stormed out, pushing past a surprised Ashley who was just coming in.

"Was that Goto?" She asked.

"Yeah, she managed to find this place and was about to steal my stuff."

"Yeah, yeah… forget that. What was she talking about baths for?" Ashley demanded.

"I don't know, maybe she saw the bathrooms before I caught her."

Harry didn't get to say anything else as Ashley hurried past him to where Harry had gestured.

A few seconds later she poked her head back into the living area. "Harry, unless we are under attack or someone is about to die; don't disturb me. If Shepard comes by send him straight to me." She ordered.

Harry decided to call this day a lost cause and wrote a note for Shepard before heading to bed.

* * *

><p>"Ash! Someone's dying. Get dressed and suit up!" Harry barked from outside the bathroom.<p>

He hadn't managed to get to sleep as he had contacted Tali to check in only to discover they were under attack from quarians from the Flotilla _and_ heretic geth. She and Shiala were holed up in a bunker and hoping the heretics and quarians would kill each other.

"How long till we get there." Ashley scowled as she stormed into the cockpit ten minutes later in her Colossus X armour (Now with N7 decal!).

"Thirty minutes." Joker said as he concentrated.

"Did they have any back up?" She demanded of Harry.

"They had the Tiger-Lilly and about thirty geth platforms." Harry nodded. "They are being attacked by several drop ships, a colossus and a squad of quarians from the Flotilla."

"Why are they all after Tali and Shiala though?" Garrus frowned. "The Admiralty Board has to know that they would face the full force of the geth and batarians if they hurt Tali."

"And the krogans." Harry added.

"The krogans?" Jacob asked from the back of the group.

"Tali is like the baby sister of our group." Ash explained. "God knows what will happen if Liara and Wrex find out about this."

"Ah." Harry said guiltily.

Shepard sighed. "What did you do?" He was resigned to more 'Harry related' issues.

"Well, Wrex knew because the geth keep him updated. He ordered a few krogan ships to Haestrom."

"I know the Captain doesn't really want to ask, but what was the batarian and geth response?" Joker asked.

"The geth carrier left Horizon in the care of the Alliance and set a course for Tali and Shiala. They will arrive about an hour after us."

"How do you want to do this Skipper?" Ash asked.

"We'll take the Stingray in as close as we can. We'll see if we can't get the girls on the radio."

* * *

><p>"<em>Break-Break-Break. OP-1, this is squad leader Kal'Reegar, do you copy?"<em>

"That is not Tali." Garrus commented from his station at the main guns on the Stingray as they flew low over the sun-toasted planet.

"_The geth sent a dropship towards OP-2. Admiral Xen's secure but we need backup."_

"Admiral Xen? Harry, try and get a hold of Tali and Shiala, I'll deal with this." Shepard ordered.

Harry just nodded and focused on flying as he contacted Tali via QEC.

"This is Council Spectre Shepard. Can we provide assistance?" Shepard calmly asked.

Garrus and Ashley both looked at each other incredulously. "He does realise these are the fools trying to hurt our allies, right?" Garrus asked.

"_We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us."_

"What were you looking for?" He asked curiously.

"_You're asking the wrong soldier, Shepard. I just shoot what they tell me to shoot. The Admiral dragged us here on a stealth mission to pick up something so highly classified she wouldn't give us any details. She went on ahead with some of my best men and radioed back that she had what she needed. That's when the geth turned up."_

"Have you heard from Tali'Zorah?"

"_Zorah? The Admiral's daughter? She's on this rock?"_ Kal asked in surprise. _"Well damn. I thought this mission was scientific. _

"_Listen Shepard, I don't know anything about Tali'Zorah. All I know is that I am sworn to protect the Admiral and get her safely off this rock._

"_You help me get to the Admiral and I'll leave the politics to others."_

"Fine, just bear in mind that there is a geth fleet coming to deal with the heretics as well as krogans. Try not to shoot the krogans, they aren't all that fond of quarians in suits."

"_Copy that. Reegar out."_

Shepard turned back to the others. Harry was focused on flying but he knew the young man was more than capable of multitasking.

"Harry, what's the word from Tali?"

"They completed their mission when some bitch of an Admiral turned up and tried to capture her." Harry scowled. "Let's just say Shiala wasn't gentle."

"Never piss off the asari commando." Ashley muttered. "What's the plan Skipper?"

"We'll drop you and Garrus at sniping points. Jacob and Miranda will act as your spotters.

"Jack, Grunt, Tank and Harry will focus on a full frontal assault.

"Zaeed and myself will watch their backs.

"Kasumi and Mordin will rendezvous with Reegar and check his team. Disarm them if possible."

"The supply locker has a stock of weapon and biotic scramblers." Harry called back.

"Harry, can you take out the colossus with the Stingray?" Shepard asked as the team went to stock up on supplies.

"Sorry, that thing is hunkered down under cover. They probably had to carry it into position when it was powered down."

"Then the only things left for Grunt and Tank to fight will be thresher maws and Reapers." Shepard said firmly.

"YAAR!" The two krogan shouted happily in response.

"Sniper teams, I've got two locations picked out." Harry announced. "Sniper Team One, prepare to deploy."

"Come on Lawson, time to get that cat suit dirty." Ashley grinned.

* * *

><p>"Can you see them?" Tali asked as she sat on a nearby stone shelf, swinging her legs absently. In her hand was special geth pistol that had been designed especially for her. It was a prototype.<p>

Several feet away sat a very worried Admiral Daro'Xen who also happened to be in a fair amount of pain.

"I saw the Stingray, if I know Shepard and Harry then they dropped off some snipers. Wait… here they come." Shiala said as she peered through a crack in the wall. "Ah… I think I can see Harry… there are two krogan who are blocking my view though… they are very enthusiastic." She noted.

"Should we go out and help?" Tali asked.

Shiala turned and looked at her, horrified. "And spoil the chance for Harry to come and sweep you off your feet like a dashing hero?"

"Fine, for that you can watch the Admiral whilst I watch Harry." Tali sniffed as she hopped off the stone shelf, tossing the pistol to Shiala on the way.

"How's the leg?" Shiala grinned at the quarian on the floor.

"Broken." She snapped irritably.

"Oh… I definitely didn't do it right. I was supposed to shatter it." Shiala pouted. "Still, you have another leg so I can always try again." She grinned maliciously.

"The good news is that the quarians aren't fighting Shepard and the team. The bad news is that Harry is fighting in the sunlight with a pair of krogans." Tali reported.

"Maybe the geth upgraded his shields." Shiala suggested.

"Then they would have upgraded ours too." Tali countered as she kept her eye glued to the crack. "His armour is smoking heavily. I think he is fighting without shields." She said in disgust.

"Ash is back on board. We'll get her together with Sha'ira and teach him to take better care of himself." Shiala smirked. "Poor boy won't know what hit him."

"The heel of my boot." Tali muttered. "They've broken through the ranks of the heretics." She said suddenly. "Those krogan… they are very powerful and very insane. They are charging the colossus."

"Once the geth are dealt with, the rest of my fleet will know to come down and mop up the rest of your friends. I'll make sure you and your boyfriend get adjoining cages for my experiments." It was easily to tell that Xen was smirking as she taunted them.

"Tali, turn off your helmet pick ups for a moment." Shiala said calmly.

"I won't stop you." Tali said dismissively.

"ARRRGGGHHH!"

The screams of the Admiral continued for some time.

"Shut up bitch!" Shiala snapped as she biotically punched Xen, cracking her facemask.

Now Xen was worried. The pain in her legs was almost forgotten as she began carefully examining the crack to make sure her suit hadn't ruptured.

There was a loud explosion that rocked the bunker and caused Xen to whimper as her legs were jostled.

"The colossus is down." Tali said calmly. "Do you want to go and slap Harry or shall I?" She asked as she turned to face Shiala.

"You should do it. I'm not sure I actually can." Shiala frowned.

Tali unlocked the doors to the bunker just as Harry arrived with the two krogan.

***THWACK***

"OW!"

"Oh shut up. You barely even felt that with your helmet." Tali snapped at him.

The krogan in the blue and grey armour chuckled. "She is definitely his mate."

"You two go secure the puny quarian." Harry ordered. "Not that one! The other one!" Harry corrected as they went to pick Tali up by her armpits.

"ARRRRGGGH!"

"Could you do something about her? She is… so noisy." Tali groaned.

Harry sent a stunner at the woman and she fell limp in the krogans' arms. "Put her on the Stingray. The geth will guide you to the holding cells."

"Yes Chief." Tank nodded before they moved off.

"Xen said something about a quarian fleet in orbit." Shiala said as she greeted Harry. She would have hugged him but his armour was still smoking.

"She was bluffing." Harry shook his head. "According to the soldier, Kal'Reegar, they came on a cruiser and that was critically damaged on the way down. They were going to use a shuttle to breach the planets atmosphere and fire off a distress call."

"I can't believe they would invade geth territory just to try and kidnap us." Tali said in frustration. "They had to know that it would cause a war between the Free People and the Flotilla!"

"The soldiers genuinely believed they were on a scientific retrieval mission. They had no idea you were here or even the target."

"Well I have had enough of this burnt rock." Tali growled. "We got the data for the geth, I just hope they can understand it better."

"Actually, the data is for Liara."

"I am going to slap that girl silly when I see her." Shiala scowled.

* * *

><p>Daro'Xen didn't gradually regain awareness.<p>

She was instantly awake.

She found herself in some sort of white, square room where one wall was completely clear and showed a view of a street.

It was an amazing sight as there were quarians, free of their suits, walking around and going about their business.

There were domestic geth platforms with a few quarians and those particular quarians seemed to be talking happily with the geth.

There were also batarians and asari.

"It is an impressive sight, is it not?"

Daro span around to see the opposite wall was now also clear. It showed a sterile white hallway. Standing on the other side of the clear wall was a male quarian, with no suit.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "You ha-" She faltered as she realised her hair was getting in her face.

Her hair that should have been contained in the helmet of her suit.

She looked down and saw that she was suit-less. She was dressed in some sort of plain white suit that was very thin and clung to her body like a second skin.

She was exposed to the elements.

"You've killed me!" She gasped.

The quarian laughed. "Hardly. You are in a sterile room. Generally we use these rooms for observation of quarians who seem to be ill despite the nanites. It is rare, but it happens."

"Wh- Who are you and why have you imprisoned me?" She asked more cautiously.

"I am Marn'Backo. I am the currently appointed governor of Rannoch." Marn shrugged. "It is a fancy title which means I am honoured enough to interact with our beloved Emissary and inform him of any issues that arise.

"As for why we imprisoned you… well, you did try to kidnap our Emissary's fiancée. Oh, and a fiancée is someone who is promised to marry another." He explained.

Tali'Zorah had been very insistent on being called a fiancée. She had a very girlish love of the word.

"I have had no such dealings with your precious Emissary." Daro spat. "I demand to contact my people."

"Denied." Marn shrugged casually. "The Flotilla is not part of Citadel space. The Free People of the Emissary are also not part of Citadel space. Therefore, there are no diplomatic relations between our people.

"Whilst we, the Free People of the Emissary, are friends and allies of the Council, the Flotilla is not and it is unlikely that they will wish to be. There are several thousand geth platforms walking around the Citadel at the moment." Marn chuckled.

"So I am a prisoner of war, then?"

"You are. You committed an act of war on the Free People of the Emissary. This is not the first time your people have done so either. Whilst we have no plans to actively attack the Flotilla… that could change if the Flotilla refuses to learn."

"I am a patient woman." Daro said calmly. "The quarians will eventually take back Rannoch and I will be rescued and heralded as a hero."

"In the event that the Flotilla gets within firing distance of this planet, every ship in the Emissary's fleet will travel here and the Flotilla will be annihilated.

"A legion of krogan will descend upon the planet and squash every single quarian in a suit." Marn shrugged. "For now, this is your cell. Your additional punishment is that you will spend everyday watching quarians live peaceful and happy lives whilst you will carry the knowledge that you will always need a suit if you leave this room.

"You will never be given the nanites. The geth would rather delete themselves first." Marn said as the wall became an opaque white again.

Daro scowled. She didn't know if Marn was bluffing, but she knew the Flotilla was in no shape to take on the geth _and_ the batarians. She would have to be patient and hope that her fellow admirals could scrounge up enough brain cells to improve their chances.

She didn't bother to delude herself about that though.


	25. Chapter 25

"Welcome to Illium Captain Shepard. I am Careena. I have been informed that all fees and checks have been waived on your behalf."

"Oh?" Shepard asked the asari with two armed mechs behind her. "By whom?"

"Dr. T'Soni. I believe she paid all fees herself." She said as she checked her omni-tool.

"Will we have any trouble completing our business here?"

"As long as you abide the laws of Illium then no. But I must advise you not to sign anything."

"Isn't that one of the finer points of business?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow. "Signing contracts is generally how business is accomplished."

"Yes, but please ensure you check for all manner of fine print and hidden clauses. It is highly frowned upon but you could find yourself tricked into an indentured servitude contract."

"Slavery?" Ashley asked in disgust. "That's legal here?"

Garrus, Ashley and Shepard turned to Harry.

"What? You think I don't know what goes on here? Liara reports in regularly. I've investigated the system they have here and I have to admit it is a pretty sweet deal." Harry nodded in approval.

"It. Is. Slavery." Ash bit out.

"But it isn't." Harry countered with a smile. "Here, I'll explain." He stepped up to Miranda. "Lets imagine that the lovely Miss Lawson here got herself into a huge amount of debt that she couldn't afford to pay off."

"As if I would be so-"

"Quiet slave!" Harry whispered harshly. He then turned back to the others. "She has the option of approaching an agent who deals with Indentured Servitude contracts who will assume her debt and pay it off for her. The agent then shops around and tries to find someone to buy her contract. Usually it is a major company who could make use of her for her skills, occasionally it will be just because she has two hands and two feet and can manage to carry and lift things.

"The buyer of the contract will pay her a decent amount of money that is _heavily_ garnished until the amount she owed is paid off.

"During that time the buyer is required by Illium law to ensure that the signee is housed, clothed and fed and kept in good health. Generally the only restriction on freedom is that they can't leave the planet." Harry shrugged.

"Still sounds like slavery to me." Ashley grumbled.

"Then congratulations Ash, you are officially a slave of the Alliance Navy!" Harry beamed as he slapped her on the back.

"Hey!"

"So, any other things we should watch out for?" Harry turned to Careena quickly as he side-stepped Ashley's slap to his head.

"Just be warned that there is an asari Justicar at the Nos Astra port. Whilst I doubt Spectre Shepard would garner her attention, I do not know about the rest of you." She said.

"Thank you for the warning." Shepard nodded.

"Have a good visit." She smiled before walking off with the mechs in tow.

"Alright… who here thinks it might be a good idea to leave the murderer, the two terrorists and the salarian responsible for continuing mass murder of babies behind?" Harry asked.

Garrus, Tali and Shiala quickly raised their hands.

Ashley was still glaring at Harry whilst Shepard was looking thoughtful.

"We are not terrorists." Miranda objected.

"Then how did you know I was talking about you?" Harry smirked.

"Harry is right." Shepard said before the bickering could begin. "We'll handle the Justicar last. We'll get the assassin and see Liara first, then we'll see if the Justicar can be convinced to work with… terrorists and murderers." He sighed.

"We can check in with Liara first." Tali suggested. "She must have heard of a Justicar and might even know about the assassin."

"Agreed. Ash, Garrus, Harry, Tali and Shiala can come with me if they want to catch up with Liara. The rest of you can find ways to amuse yourself… Jack, try not to kill anyone."

"As long as no one looks at me funny." She shrugged.

"Grunt, Tank, keep an eye on her and watch her back." Shepard ordered.

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"Go and see if the local law enforcement could use your services." Harry suggested. "There are probably plenty of armed crime syndicates for you to take down, just remember to follow the rules the officers set down."

"I hope they put up more of a fight than the Blue Suns." Tank mused.

* * *

><p>"Tali! Ash! Shiala!"<p>

The three men watched as the women squealed, hugged and greeted each other.

"And once again the asari claims that they aren't really 'female' are smashed to smithereens." Harry muttered quietly.

"Harry, if you're not careful you'll experience the 'feminine wrath' four times over." Garrus chided quietly.

"What are you three whispering about?" Liara asked the men suspiciously from in the middle of her group hug.

"I would guess they are tempting fate whilst trying to mock women." Ash said shrewdly.

"Liara, how are you?" Harry grinned widely as he stepped forward with arms wide open.

"Definitely." Tali nodded. "I would say that my fiancé started it."

Harry sighed. "Liara, would you take it as a compliment if I said you were a beautiful woman?"

Liara frowned. "Of course."

Harry's smile returned. "Then I have nothing to worry about."

Liara's frown returned to suspicious.

"How is your work going?" Shepard asked as he pulled Harry back and indicated for him to secure the room.

"Slowly. I am being stonewalled by many governments, including my own."

"We're safe and private." Harry assured them as he sat on the couch in Liara's office.

"Good, I could use your skills Harry." She said eagerly. "I need some hacking done as I think I am onto something regarding the Collectors. There are several terminals around the Nos Astra Port that I have determined are being used as a form of dead drop. I believe they are connected to the Shadow Broker. If you can hack them and link me in then I can start working on their networks."

"Doesn't sound too hard." Harry shrugged. "Give me the locations and I'll get to it."

"Thank you." She sighed. "I've been hearing some rather disturbing news about the Shadow Broker. Rumour has it he tried to acquire your body, Shepard. He was going to trade it to the Collectors."

"Harry, I'd just like to take this opportunity to once again thank you and the geth for saving and rescuing me." Shepard said uncomfortably. "First Cerberus and now the Shadow Broker… this explains why the Collectors knew me by name." He sighed.

"We already know why Cerberus wanted you." Harry reminded him. "They wanted you as an asset, they think they have you anyway."

"But why would the Collectors want his dead body?" Garrus asked. "I doubt they wanted him alive."

"Could it be for the Prothean knowledge like the cipher?" Tali asked.

"Possible." Harry mused. "While the Reapers have all the knowledge of the Protheans they assimilated, there were some hidden caches of data, like Ilos."

"How are you though, Shepard?" Liara asked with genuine concern. "You have only been awake properly for a week or two. Are you coping alright with what you went through?"

"Better than I would be if Cerberus had found me instead of the geth." He admitted. "I still have nightmares about falling through Alchera's atmosphere but… I have help for those." He gave Ash a sad smile.

"It might be possible for an asari mind meld to help you." Liara said nervously. "I don't have the experience myself, but Shiala might be able to help."

"I know what you are referring to but I don't have the experience either. The only person who might who I would trust to send Shepard to is the Consort."

"I can call up and arrange that." Harry offered.

"I'll consider it." Shepard said reluctantly.

"Next time we are on the Citadel you and Ash can join us when we have dinner with Sha'ira." Harry said firmly.

"It would make sense for you to be seen in the presence of the Consort." Shiala nodded. "You walk the halls of power already."

"Usually to try and keep Harry in line." Shepard glared at the wizard.

"Listen, I know what you need to do on this planet." Liara said suddenly all business. "This is all the information I have on the Justicar and the assassin. This is the address I am staying at. When you are done for the day, come and see me and I will prepare a meal." She promised.

"You can cook?" Ashley asked carefully.

"Of course!" Liara said indignantly. "All those months on planets alone, I couldn't just bring an endless supply of rations. I had to forage for my own meals."

"Here's hoping you've been foraging in shops on Illium instead of the back alleys." Garrus chuckled.

* * *

><p>Harry headed off on his own to complete the hacking for Liara. He made it five steps before he realised Ashley was right behind him.<p>

"Look, I'm sorry. You aren't really an Alliance slave." He rolled his eyes. "Ow!"

Ashley just smirked at him as he rubbed the back of his head. "Admiral Hackett ordered me to watch your back. The only person I would trust with that job other than myself is Shiala and she is watching Tali's."

"Fine. Follow me." Harry sighed as he continued walking.

"Are you really ok with all the slavery?" Ashley asked after a few moments.

"Do you honestly think I would be calmly walking through the streets of Illium if I thought it was anything close to slavery?" Harry retorted. "Do you know what the difference is between a servant and a slave? Choice. You choose to serve the Alliance. A slave has no choice. They are stolen from all that they know and brutally forced to submit to the will of others."

"I still don't believe you aren't doing anything." She persisted.

"Fine, ExoGeni is buying all the contracts they can provided the subject of the contract didn't do anything too shady." Harry broke down and admitted.

Ashley was far too smug. "I knew it."

"Shut _up_!" Harry whined.

The pair continued on their way through the various markets, occasionally stopping for Harry to quietly hack the nearby terminal.

When they reached the third terminal near the Tracking Office they saw a familiar face sitting on a bench nearby.

"Lizbeth Baynham, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Harry asked.

"Mr. Potter, Chief Williams, I didn't expect to see you here." She said somewhat nervously.

"Lieutenant now." Ash said proudly.

"Oh, congratulations."

"What's wrong? I would have thought you would be with the other colonists. My understanding is that you still have a mental link due to the Thorian's influence." Harry frowned.

"We do." She admitted. "ExoGeni actually came through for us and set us up on a new planet with plenty of relics to study and learn from.

"But… we were alone for a good few months. ExoGeni was actively trying to bleed us dry. They claimed we had proprietary property in our blood and brains as a result of our interactions with the Thorian."

"Those elements were supposed to be routed out. They aren't still trying to get to you are they?" Harry was suddenly very intense.

"Oh no!" She said quickly. "We've been assigned a liaison. A Dr. Hermione Granger. She hasn't been to the colony but she checks in at least once a week and if there is a problem she makes sure that the paperwork is rushed through.

"But before ExoGeni pulled their surprising 180, we were desperate and we approached Baria Frontiers to handle our medical work ups."

She paused and licked her lip in stress. "You have to understand that we were all still pretty fragile, mentally and physically. When Fai Dan signed on behalf of the colony he had no idea that he was agreeing to highly invasive and _mandatory_ procedures where they would take whatever they could to turn a profit.

"The consequences have thrown Fai Dan into a deep despair, we've had to put him on suicide watch."

"Why hasn't ExoGeni or Hermione sorted this out?" Harry demanded.

"The woman who is in charge, that's her over there, the asari. She refuses to take our calls and Dr. Granger says she can't leave her office. She promised that she was attempting to send someone to negotiate on our behalf but that she was having trouble finding someone."

"This is disgusting." Ashley scowled. "In fact… I think I prefer the slavery over this."

"Lizbeth, I am fully authorised to negotiate on behalf of ExoGeni. You head back to the colony, on your way contact Hermione, she will tell you that I can handle this. Baria Frontiers will never bother you again." He promised.

"Are… are you sure."

"He is _very_ sure." Ashley gave her a small smile. "Go on, relax. We'll probably contact you before you've even boarded your flight."

Lizbeth was still unsure, but after being rescued before by the two humans and their friends, she had a lot of trust in them. She slowly walked off, occasionally turning around and sneaking glances at the pair before she turned a corner and lost a line of sight.

"So… would it be too much if I pulled my sword on the bitch?" Harry asked, his fingers twitching.

"It might cause us problems with the Justicar if you resorted to murder." Ashley reasoned.

"Bugger… back to diplomacy then."

"I'll keep an eye out for a big enough stick." Ashley promised.

"Hey! Lady, you have a lot of explaining to do." Harry said as he angrily stormed into the Baria Frontiers booth.

"Who do you think you are human? Don't make me call security." The dark skinned asari scowled.

"I represent ExoGeni and the colonists of Zu's Hope." Harry said as he slammed his fists on the desk. "Do you really think you can get away with illegal experimentation on sentients?"

"They willingly signed the contract. This is Illium, that makes it legal." She sneered.

"They were not of sound mind when they signed that."

"Irrelevant." She waved a dismissive hand. "If they can focus enough to sign their names then that is all that is required."

"So it doesn't matter that they were basically drugged?" Ashley asked.

"The first thing you are told when you arrive on Illium is 'don't sign anything'. That should tell you all you need to know." She smirked.

"Hmm, a dose of red sand in diluted form would do it." Harry mused. "I know quite a few other methods of mind control as well."

"I am an asari matron. You couldn't defeat me human." The asari said as she glared at him.

"Why are you so hostile to humans? Or are you like this with asari as well?" Ashley asked, she couldn't believe the hatred this woman had.

"Why? You humans are some of the worst. But you aren't the only ones.

"We asari were the pinnacle of evolution!" She said proudly. "We walked amongst the stars long before anyone else."

"Is she monologuing?" Harry asked Ashley with a sigh. Ash just nodded.

"All right, I get it. You hate other species because they proved they are better than you." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Better? The salarians interfere with things beyond their comprehension and caused the krogan rebellion. The krogan seek nothing but destruction. The turians bomb everything that looks at them funny. The quarians…" She faltered and began to cry. "The quarians and their stupid geth killed my bond mate.

"And you humans!" Her tears were flowing freely and angrily. "You bring nothing but trouble with Saren attacking the Citadel. If you had just backed off then my daughters would still be alive! My beautiful daughters." She sobbed as she slid into her chair.

Harry was looking at her with wide eyes. "Your mate… was killed when the geth gained awareness?"

"Yes, the foolish quarians, playing god." She said as she sniffled.

"Your daughters… Sephyria and Nelyna."

She looked up sharply.

"I am Harry Potter, Emissary of the geth. Your daughters were my friends. They told me about their mother… I gave them recordings from the geth of their mother… I had promised to take them to Rannoch to visit her grave… I… I was at their memorial." Harry said woodenly.

"You are the Emissary?" She snarled. "Why did you let Saren attack the Citadel? Why did my daughters have to die?" She wailed.

"The Emissary did everything he could." Ashley said firmly. "He chased after Saren with the rest of Shepard's team whilst the Council tried to have them arrested. He single handedly took out the Reaper.

"If you want to blame someone, blame the Council, if that isn't good enough, blame your government along with the salarian, human and turian governments. All four are trying to claim that the Emissary and the Captain are insane and that the Reaper was just a geth ship."

The asari looked outraged.

"Leave the Reapers and corrupt governments to me." Harry said before the woman could build up for another rant. "Head to the Citadel, talk to the Consort or her acolytes. Tell them who you are. Then go to the batarian and quarian embassies, they will take you to Rannoch so you can see what it was your mate loved about quarians… what your daughters were supposed to see."

"You… you'd still let me visit, after all I said?" She asked tearfully.

Harry just shrugged. "When I lost the only member of my remaining family I tortured his murderer. Grief makes us incredibly stupid." He said in disgust. "Go and find something to find happiness in."

She looked down at the OSD on the desk thoughtfully. She then tapped it three times and handed it to Harry. "Thank you." She said before calmly walking off.

Harry sat on the edge of the desk wearily.

"You ok?" Ash asked softly.

"I'm just tired of being reminded of everything I lost." He admitted. "I hate it. I never knew my parents. My godfather was kept away from me for twelve years and I lost him two years after he finally found me. I deserve a break… don't I?" He asked Ashley pleadingly.

She put her arm around him and sighed. "Lets put these Reapers in the ground then we can all retire to Rannoch." She promised.

Harry nodded as he stood up and the pair made their way back to Liara.

* * *

><p>"Captain, could I have a word… in private?" Miranda asked with a pointed look at Garrus.<p>

"I'll check your back for the knife when you return." Garrus promised with mock sincerity.

Miranda closed her eyes and tried to ignore him.

"We can talk over here." Shepard smiled as he led Miranda to a nearby table in the Eternium bar.

"I need a favour." She said cautiously. "It has nothing to do with Cerberus and I would prefer that _nobody_ knew about it."

"That… does _not_ sound promising." Shepard admitted.

"It is nothing truly nefarious. It involves saving damsels in distress… it should be right up your alley." She said with a hint of snark.

"Go on." Shepard said calmly.

"Do you remember how you came and asked me about my history? I said I was a genetically engineered being, designed as a legacy for my father?"

"How could I forget?" Shepard said as he remembered the rather frank discussion. He had been tempted to ask if her ego was as genetically enhanced as the rest of her.

"Well my father is not the type to leave things to chance. I was not the only person he created. I have a sister. I rescued her when she was a baby and managed to get her away. She is with a loving family and none of them know her origins."

"And that is all about to change?" Shepard said leadingly.

Miranda sighed. "I have received word through my contacts that my father has located my sister and intends to reclaim her. I need your help to find the leak and save my sister."

Shepard leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. "I have no problem helping you and your sister. I just don't like the idea of doing it alone."

"Secrecy has been the key to keeping my sister safe and away from my father. Not even _she_ knows her history." Miranda insisted.

"There are two ways to do this: The easy way and the hard way." Shepard said as he leaned forward. "The hard way involves you and me taking on your father alone. I assume he will have guards of some sort involved?"

Miranda nodded.

"So we will be up against unfavourable odds and dealing with someone who has no comprehension of the danger she is in. People will die and it will be messy and noticeable.

"The easy way is to ask Harry for his help. He can hack _anything_ and he can get anywhere unseen. He might be able to resolve this whole thing with a few well placed viruses."

"I don't trust him." Miranda said firmly. "He is far too… flighty. He doesn't work well in a team, he often abandons any plan we already have and does his own thing-"

"One thing you must have realised about Harry by now is that everything he does is to ensure his friends and his team make it home safe." Shepard interrupted. "You put Harry on this mission and I can guarantee that Harry will sacrifice himself to save your sister if it comes down to it.

"Of course, with Harry, it is unlikely that your sister will ever know we were involved. Harry doesn't like recognition, despite the fact that the Alliance and the Free People of the Emissary have all recognised his work."

"I haven't read about any of that." Miranda frowned.

"Like I said, he doesn't want recognition. He just wants to keep his friends safe. He has the accolades, they just aren't publicised."

"Can you swear you will keep him line?" She gave him a steely look.

"I can swear that your sister's chances of freedom will rise exponentially. Keeping Harry in line is not really possible. All we can really do is try and keep tabs on him."

* * *

><p>"Shepard! We might have to shift our timelines a bit." Harry said as he jogged up to the tables the group was occupying in the Eternium bar.<p>

"What did you do now?" He sighed.

"Me? Nothing!" Harry was outraged.

Nobody was buying it.

"Honestly, it wasn't me. Tank, Grunt and Jack were getting on fine with the local PD when the Justicar turned up. Apparently she is more trouble than she is worth and the Detective in charge is… well, not to put too fine a point on it, _begging_ for our aid. Well, Spectre Shepard's aid at least."

"She's supposed to be a force for good! What could she have possibly done?" Shepard asked exasperatedly.

"Shepard, whilst the Justicars are highly respected and given a wide berth, they are… single-minded in the pursuit of their duties." Shiala explained. "They will kill any whom they perceive as… evil."

"And this is an asari world." Shepard pointed out.

"It is a corporate world, just like Noveria. It is simply based around the asari and the asari maintain it. The law enforcement needs to cater to the needs of the businesses and a woman who would kill them because they deal in corruption is not something they want on their planet."

"Who did she kill?" Shepard asked Harry.

"Just an Eclipse merc." Harry assured him. "But like Shiala said, the fat cats want her gone."

"She hasn't attacked Jack?"

"No, but my understanding is that Grunt had Tank sit on her… I'm still not entirely sure if the Detective was being literal." Harry frowned.

"Alright, everybody settle your tabs. We're moving out."

"Harry, I think Tali wants you." Garrus pointed to the suit-less quarian who was waving for him.

"Music to my ears." Harry smiled happily as he headed over with Ash and Shiala in tow.

Tali was standing with a quarian in a sealed suit and an asari in a professional dress.

"Harry, this is Lida'Domenz and Karile Sentalis." Tali introduced the quarian and asari respectively. "Lida signed a slave contract with Karile but she can't find anyone to buy it."

"Miss Sentalis, you're quite new to this business, aren't you?" Harry smiled kindly at the asari. "You have a good reputation though."

"You've heard of me?" She asked in surprise.

"Indentured Servitude is far too close to slavery for it not to be closely monitored. I know a few people on the regulatory committee. A few thought your more caring nature would make you horribly ill-equipped to handle the buying and selling of sentient beings whilst the others thought your determined nature would ensure you got the best for your contracts.

"You came very close to not being given a trading license."

Karile was shocked at that news.

"Don't worry." Harry assured her. "I like your attitude. I hope you will do quite well in this business."

"Th- Thank you." She said, slightly flustered.

"So, what was the problem with the contract?" He asked professionally.

"Oh… well, Lida has experience with AI's. I had thought that Synthetic Insights would gladly buy her contract. Unfortunately they are heavily invested in Citadel Space and the Council disapproves of slavery."

"Well, I can't blame them for that." Harry admitted. "I have some pretty bad personal experiences with slavery myself.

"Anyway, all is not lost." Harry grinned. "I assume you are familiar with Tali'Zorah?" He indicated his gorgeous girlfriend who blushed deeply.

"Oh yes." Lida said excitedly. "I tried to convince my family to leave the Flotilla but… I don't think they can." She said sadly.

"If they need transport then that can easily be arranged." Tali assured her. "The geth won't approach the Flotilla but the humans have readily agreed to act as intermediaries for anyone wishing to return to Rannoch."

"No… the Admiralty has recalled all pilgrims. I can't leave because of my debts, but all of my friends are leaving." She explained.

"Damn… it sounds like the Admiralty is getting scared." Harry frowned. "Never mind, it isn't your problem." He told the two women. "Go to ExoGeni. They will be happy to buy your contract. They may want to negotiate the terms as you could be useful on certain projects off world, but the pay will be a lot higher so your contract is paid off quicker."

"Are you sure ExoGeni will buy?" Lida asked hopefully.

"ExoGeni is owned by the Emissary. The Emissary has a vested interested in the health and welfare of quarians, geth and batarians in particular." Harry assured them.

Lida turned to Tali, nervously wringing her fingers. "Do you think I will be able to save up enough to afford the nanites treatments?"

Tali frowned. "The nanites are free."

"Oh… the Admiralty-"

"Will be getting a severe kick up the arse pretty soon. They are currently holding the Flotilla captive." Harry interrupted. "Go on, ExoGeni has supplies of nanites. This time tomorrow you will be breathing in this fresh air." Harry grinned.

"Thank you very much for your help." Karile said gratefully as she led the young quarian off. Lida was clearly on the verge of gushing thanks and praise.

"Was I really that young and naïve?" Tali asked wistfully.

"You shot me in the chest within seconds of meeting me." Harry reminded her with a raised eyebrow. "You attempted to make an honest deal with a crook. Yes, you were."

"Harry." Shepard called over.

Harry jogged back to the table.

"Can you give us some privacy?" Shepard asked.

Harry cast a quick _muffliato_. "We're safe."

"Miranda has a personal problem."

"I believe they make a lotion for that."

"She has a sister, she is a genetic creation like her." Shepard ignored Harry's jokes. "She saved her from her father as a baby but it seems he has tracked her down and may be making a play for her."

"You believe her when she says she 'saved' her?" Harry queried.

"I do. She was insistent that I not tell anyone but I managed to convince her to bring you in."

"You had a role in mind for me?"

"We need to do this quietly. We don't want to startle the family. I was hoping you might be able to handle this with a bit of hacking."

"_That_ is a tall order." Harry breathed. "Off the top of my head I could probably redirect anyone suspicious who approaches her but she would need to be watched for the rest of her life."

"Miranda says she already has a plan in the works to move them off planet."

"Ok… that I can work with. Why don't I go and sort this out now? You lot can handle the Justicar. Just make sure to have Tank and Grunt keep an eye on Jack."

"Alright, but take Miranda with you."

"Spoil sport."

* * *

><p>"Detective Anaya? I'm-"<p>

"Spectre Captain Shepard." The asari said with clear relief as she met them at the spaceport. "You'd have to have been living under a rock to not recognise you." She admitted. "And I am glad you came."

"Happy to come, but I'm not entirely sure how I can help." Shepard said as they began to walk towards her offices. "My understanding is that Illium is an asari world but you are having an issue with someone that the asari usually would do anything to help."

"All true. But at the moment I have just under twenty-four hours before my job brings my life to an end… and it won't be because I am doing anything illegal.

"I have been ordered to detain the Justicar until she can be deported. The Justicar has agreed to remain in my custody for twenty-four hours before her code forces her to leave… by force if necessary. At which point my oath as an officer will put me at physical odds with her and she will turn me into a stain on the walls."

"I would do everything in my power to ensure your death was quick and painless."

Shepard raised an eyebrow as they entered the office and saw a much older asari sitting on a counter-top in a meditative pose. She wore a brown, leather-ish type of body suit with a plunging neckline that hugged her curves and showed that asari did not 'sag' the older they got.

"And I appreciate the effort you will go to, Justicar." Anaya gave a small respectful bow.

Shepard noticed that on the other side of the room, Jack was wedged tightly between Grunt and Tank and she was looking murderously between the two.

"Shepard, get these two hippos off of me!" She snarled.

"Hippo?" Grunt queried.

"Earth creature." Zaeed answered. "Very large, looks kinda docile… ferocious fighter."

"Docile?"

"Peaceful." Jacob offered.

Grunt looked down and glared at Jack. "Do I look 'docile' to you, Little Pyjack?"

"What you look like is a big fa-"

"Jack! Close your mouth and remember that you are severely outgunned." Shepard barked. "Grunt, Tank, I think you can let her up now."

The two krogan's shared a look and took a step to their respective sides.

"Oof!"

Up till that point, nobody had realised that the krogans were suspending her a foot off the ground.

Tank easily reached down and pulled her up and pushed her towards the group. Jack scowled mutinously but kept her mouth shut.

"Detective, Justicar, perhaps one of you could tell me what is preventing you, Justicar, from leaving Illium and instead levelling the threat of death on what appears to be, in your eyes, a respectable officer of the law?" Shepard asked formerly.

"My target is known to have passed through this area." Justicar Samara explained. "I know that she sought aid from the local chapter of the Eclipse and has left the planet but I need the name of the ship she left on so I can follow her."

"So you intended to… 'entice' the information out of every Eclipse merc you came across?" Shepard was going for diplomatic.

Samara seemed amused by his choice of words. "I was in the process of doing as much when your team mates there found me."

"Bitch was going hardcore on some asari merc." Jack actually sounded impressed.

"Bitch?" Samara frowned dangerously.

"She actually means that as a compliment." Jacob assured her.

"Hey! I don't need you speaking for me, Cerberus!" Jack snapped at him.

"Jack, don't make me have Grunt and Tank deal with you again." Shepard said without looking at her.

"Cerberus?" Samara stood up, she moved like a predator circling another hunter and preparing to defend herself.

"There _are_ extenuating circumstances." Shepard said quickly. "This team is trying to stop the Collectors and the Reapers from ending all organic life in the galaxy. I was actually coming to see if you would join us."

"Ah… I am not so absorbed in my duties that I have not heard of you or your exploits Shepard." Samara backed down slightly. "But so far, all I have heard is that you are delusional."

"I would advise contacting Matriarch Benezia or Matriarch Aethyta, Justicar." Shiala spoke up. "If you explain Shepard's presence and his request for your help they will be able to confirm his… sanity."

"In the meantime, if you give me the name of your target my team can try and track down the ship they left on." Shepard added.

Samara eyed Shepard shrewdly. "Very well, I will allow you to prove your honour whilst I contact the Matriarchs."

"Don't do us any favours luv." Zaeed rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>"She is even more beautiful than you!"<p>

"We are genetically engineered to the same level, we have identical levels of 'beauty'." Miranda scoffed as she stood next to Harry at the Departure Waiting Lounge.

"Yes, but you scowl and sneer so much that you spoil your looks. If you were to allow yourself to relax and enjoy life you would always be something for your sister to aspire to."

"My sister will never know me." Miranda said firmly. "She deserves a happy life where sneering and scowling are alien concepts."

"Whatever." Harry sighed.

Oriana, along with her adoptive mother and father were waiting to be called for a shuttle to take them to the ship that would convey them to the new planet where Miranda had arranged for the father to get a better job.

Miranda's contact had heard that her genetic father had arranged for the family to be intercepted, the parents to be disposed of and Oriana brought to him.

"Alright, I'm going in. You just keep your eyes peeled for trouble."

"What do you mean 'going in'?" Miranda hissed "Oriana is never to know that we are involved."

"Well, you can stay in the shadows and watch dear old dad rip away your sister's happy life. But I am going to go over there, explain she is in danger and give her some options that will mean she never has to watch over her shoulder again."

"Impossible. If you tell her she will _always_ be watching, worrying."

"Only if there is something to worry about." Harry said pointedly. "By the time I am finished, your father won't even _think_ about you or your sister again."

Miranda examined his expression carefully. His mouth was smiling… but his eyes spoke of something… permanent.

"Shepard said I could trust you. He said that you would increase the odds of this succeeding." She said.

"I guess the real question then, is how much do you trust Shepard?"

Miranda looked at her sister and couldn't help the pang of longing. Of wanting to be with her only decent family.

"Do it."

When she looked back to the shorter man she found he was already halfway to her sister. She couldn't help but snort a laugh at the man's audacity. It was no wonder that he had an N7 operative _and_ an asari commando as his minders.

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team had fought their way through nearly fifty members of the Eclipse. Most of them were asari vanguards capable of impressive biotic acts.<p>

Jack, Grunt and Tank had taken it as a challenge and risen to the occasion.

The trio had formed their own sort of team and ploughed on ahead of the others as they engaged the mercenaries until the others arrived to pick off the stragglers.

An interesting issue revealed itself when the trio made their way back to the group voluntarily with Tank carrying a somewhat delusional volus by the back of its suit.

"I am a biotic god!" The volus declared woozily.

"Shut up ya little hob goblin." Jack scowled. "We found this one stumbling around up ahead." She reported to Shepard. "I was just going to kill it but I think these two elephants want to keep it as a pet." She pointed at the two towering krogan.

"Elephants?" Grunt looked at Tank.

"Oh for gods sake girl." Zaeed said in exasperation before turning to the two krogan. "I'll show you later." He promised. "When I've got you hopped up on so much ryncol you won't be able to kill the little bitch." He added under his breath.

"Fear me lesser creatures…!" The volus trailed off in slight confusion as he dangled from Tank's hand. "See how I fly? Proof of my omnisinessessess!"

"You two made a good call." Shepard assured the krogan. "Jacob, Kasumi, take the volus back to the precinct and hand him over to Anaya."

"Sure thing Shep." Kasumi smiled.

"Yes Captain." Jacob almost saluted.

"The rest of us will continue on. According to the intel we've managed to gather, the headquarters should be just ahead." Shepard said as the two humans lead the 'biotic god' away.

* * *

><p>"The quarians have a need for people from all walks of life." Harry explained as he walked with Oriana and her family down the hallway to where the Tiger-Lilly was docked. "Most of them only have experience as engineers. This is great for helping the geth keep things in working order but not so good when it comes to things like medicine, agriculture, education or running a government."<p>

"So even Oriana will have a chance of getting employment on Rannoch?" Her mother asked.

"With her brains? She'll have the pick of the litter!" Harry said as he cycled the airlock. "So, there is an ulterior reason I have you on a private ship."

The father's hand tightened protectively on his daughter's shoulder.

"Relax, your safety is paramount." Harry assured them as he led the now nervous humans through the ship. "No, I am not a threat, but your… shall we say, 'genetic' father is."

"You know about why I was put up for adoption?" Oriana asked with keen interest.

"I do. It is an interesting if somewhat depressing story." He said as he indicated for them to sit on the couches in the lounge. "But considering it ends with you in a loving family, it can't be all bad. Want to hear it?" Harry grinned.

* * *

><p>"Mordin, do you have anything that will knock her out?" Shepard called over to the Doctor from his position in cover.<p>

"I've got this Shepard!" Jack shouted as she happily continued to pound the local Eclipse leader, Captain Wasea, into the ground with her fists.

"Should have just thing!" Mordin chirped as he quickly stood and fired something from his arm guard.

Jack paused for a moment before she dropped bonelessly to the ground.

The crew slowly crept up to the pair of unconscious females.

Wasea was a battered mess and barely alive.

Jack was drooling in her sleep.

"Perfect dosage." Mordin said proudly. "Must be monitored to ensure no ill-effects though. Dosage was enough to take down an enraged krogan."

Jack had been dosed with a highly potent variant of the drug known as 'Red Sand'. It boosted a biotics levels but also caused euphoria and lapses in judgement. Jack getting dosed was a disaster in the making.

"Dammit." Shepard groaned. "Tank, accompany Mordin and Jack back to the ship. Doctor, Jack is your patient. Do not leave her with the ships doctor and do not let him have access."

"Doctor DiArgo is highly trained." Mordin assured.

"He is also pure Cerberus, Jack would kill him if she woke up to find him hovering over her." Shepard explained.

"Hmm… Do not have appropriate monitoring equipment in lab." Mordin frowned. "Will be interesting experiment to craft alternatives to suit purpose." He smiled happily.

It was now down to just Shepard, Grunt and Zaeed.

Shepard was regretting that he let Ashley, Tali and Shiala chase down Samara's target another way. He didn't feel comfortable without the others there.

Garrus was off on a personal errand. He had seemed pretty serious about it but wouldn't give any details.

"Start searching people. We need to find a list of ships that have left the Eclipse base and who boarded them."

* * *

><p>"I'm a test tube baby." Oriana wasn't sure how to process this fact. "I… I don't have a mother at all."<p>

"What do you call her then?" Harry pointed to the woman on the girl's left. "She's the one who raised you and loved you."

"Why are you helping us? I'm sure this Henry Lawson could pay you more than enough to get Oriana." The father, Jeremy Handle, frowned.

"Henry Lawson might own a few billion credits, I on the other hand own several trillion credits." Harry snorted. "Henry would have had to spend a small fortune to pay the mercenaries to get Oriana. I wasn't paid a single credit."

Harry leaned forward in his armchair and looked Oriana in the eye. "All it took for me to help you was the sincere plea of your sister to protect you and your parents."

"You know where she is?" Oriana asked eagerly.

"Of course. She was the only one who knew where you were as she rescued you, we covered this already." Harry smirked.

"Where is she? Can I meet her?" The nineteen year old was nearly bouncing on the couch.

Her father was looking slightly green from the way the springs were moving.

"You really want to meet her? She's a bit of a bitch." Harry grimaced.

"But she rescued me! She's still looking out for me! She can't be all bad." Oriana argued.

"I don't believe she is. But she has made some poor choices." Harry sighed. "I'll tell you what. I'll go and see if I can't convince her to come and meet you. You go down the hall and pick out some rooms for your journey. It will only take a day or two but beds are better than couches.

"My fiancée will be along with our other friend soon and they will accompany you to Rannoch."

"Don't ask her. Just… drag her here!" Oriana ordered.

Harry snapped to attention and saluted. "Ma'am! Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

><p>"You consort with unsavoury characters, Shepard." Samara said with disapproval. "You expect me to simply not take issue with the fact that you have a murderer and two members of a terrorist group with you?"<p>

"Come with us or don't." Shepard shrugged. "Your presence will increase our chances of success. I trust that the Matriarchs told you just how important this mission is?"

"They did. But Matriarchs can be political animals. They are not known for their honesty."

"Like I said, come with us or don't. But if you cause problems with the rest of the crew… well, my mission is too important to have anyone jeopardising its success." He said with all seriousness.

"Very well, you have proven your prowess. You have shown you can be merciful. I will swear myself to your cause. But know this, should you do anything that my code disapproves of then I will be forced to kill you when I am eventually released from my oath."

"Then I probably deserve it." Shepard agreed.

Samara's eyes turned white and she went down low on one knee, her back hunched over and her face point downwards as she closed her eyes. A fully submissive posture that was deeply at odds with the predator they had witnessed earlier.

Anaya stood up respectfully.

"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard. Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals. Your wishes _are_ my code."

She began to glow with a biotic aura that could easily eclipse Jack or Kaiden, or even the Matriarchs.

Samara stood and the aura receded and her eyes resumed their normal colour.

"I never thought I would see a Justicar swear an oath like that." Anaya was awestruck.

"I understand and accept your oath, Justicar Samara. I swear my own to ensure that our actions are honourable." Shepard gave a slight bow.

"I appreciate it." Samara inclined her head. "Truly, the life of a Justicar can get lonely. I admit, I am looking forward to serving with a company of honourable heroes… regardless of the more… 'colourful' members of your team."

"We've all done things we aren't proud of." Shepard admitted. "All we can do now is try to be better."

"Indeed." She agreed as she recalled her own past.

"Shepard, we managed to track the target. She just landed on Omega." Tali reported as she jogged up with Ash and Shiala.

"Damn. A rogue Ardat-Yakshi in a place like Omega?" Shepard swore.

"It would be like an all you can buffet." Ashley sighed.

"Tali, Shiala, can you go with Samara to Omega?"

"Harry already contacted us. He needs us to act as an escort for… a group of people. He was far too vague." Tali scowled.

"Alright, take Samara to Harry and ask him to take Samara to Omega to deal with her target."

"You would allow me to finish my previous mission whilst under your command?" Samara asked in surprise.

"Of course. This Morinth is a dangerous murderer. We are still performing intelligence gathering at this stage. We are a while off before we can take on the Collectors and put a stop to them."

"Then I have truly made the right choice in swearing my oath to you." She gave a very respectful bow.

* * *

><p>"Damn you Potter! Release me!" Miranda screeched as Harry manhandled her into the airlock of the Tiger-Lilly.<p>

Any passers-by were confused as to whether they should intervene but Harry's playfully cheeky grin made them doubt the woman was in any real danger.

"I told you my sister wasn't to know about me." She hissed as the airlock sealed and Harry released her arm.

"Yes, but I like your sister better than you and she was very insistent." He smiled.

"She deserves a better life than what I can give her."

"You are just going to meet her, Miranda. You aren't about to adopt her." Harry rolled her eyes.

"This is still-"

"Listen, Lawson." Harry said with a slight irritability as they waited for the airlock to cycle. "I am not real fond of you. You are a stuck up bitch who has made some _really_ questionable choices in her life.

"But there is one thing I am certain of: You are a damned fine sister and Oriana deserves all the family she can get… and so do you.

"Take it from someone who had no family."

The inner doors opened and he shoved her through before quickly shutting them and locking her onboard.

Miranda stood there glowering at the door.

"I thought we'd be identical." Came a curious voice.

Miranda spun around with a 'deer in the headlights' look.

Standing there with one hip cocked and her arms folded beneath her breasts was her baby sister.

"But you are beautiful. Why are you still single?" Oriana asked with a hint of a smile.

"Why are you?" Miranda countered as she matched her sister's pose.

"We are supposedly perfect. Can anyone really match up to our standards?"

"You're women. Nobody is ever good enough." Came the slightly sarcastic voice of her father.

The sisters turned to see Oriana's family standing there.

Miranda swallowed. She might be physically perfect and highly trained for all situations… but this was completely foreign territory.

Potter was a dead man.

* * *

><p>"Emissary!"<p>

"That's it! There is absolutely _no_ point trying to hide my identity!"


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N:** Because I felt like such a bastard for that little cliffy and you've been pretty good for the most part... you get the answer after the first scene break. (Because I'm still a bit of a bastard!)

* * *

><p>"Where's Harry?" Garrus asked as he rejoined the team at the Utah's docking port. "Not to mention the others and the new recruit." He added as he noticed the significantly reduced team.<p>

"Harry and Ash are taking Samara to Omega to catch her target before she vanishes into the wind again. Tali, Shiala and Miranda are running a personal mission." Shepard explained.

"Tali and Shiala with Miranda trapped on a ship?" Garrus looked worried.

"Miranda wouldn't hurt them." Jacob promised.

"It's Miranda's safety I'm worried about." Garrus said before turning fully to face Jacob with a serious look. "With Miranda gone you'll have to fulfil her role as the loyal servant of a racist terrorist group. I expect barbed comments, innuendo and the constant need to check my back for a knife."

"Happy to oblige." Jacob said dryly. In reality the pair had developed a good working relationship and were close to calling it a friendship.

"Enough talk ladies! Let's go get this super-assassin." Jack said impatiently.

The team headed to the cargo transfer levels where Liara had told them that the assassin, Thane Krios, had contacted an asari named Seryna.

Seryna used to be the head of security for Nassana Dantius, Thane's current target. Seryna didn't agree with Nassana's policy of assassinating people and was fired when she brought it up.

As a result, Seryna was only too happy to help the assassin out to kill the woman.

It made her a little reluctant to help Shepard but relented when Shepard assured her that he had no interest in Nassana and only wanted to recruit Thane. She was a little protective of him.

Seryna even drove them to the Dantius Towers where Nassana was holed up in fear of the assassin.

Nassana was in tower one, Seryna believed that Thane would ascend via tower two and then cross over to tower one using the sky-bridge that joined the two towers.

"I'm not sure Harry would approve us taking the long route." Garrus mused as they stood in the lobby of tower 2. "He would have either taken out the anti-air defences with the Stingray or he would have performed a sub-orbital drop and cleared the upper floors himself."

"_Shepard Captain. We have eliminated the anti-air turrets. The Stingray will maintain over watch."_

Shepard had a fairly smug grin. "That was just a couple of Harry's boys performing an orbital drop and clearing the roof."

"Old dog. New trick." Jack mocked.

"Fine, but why are _we_ still down here?" Garrus asked before Shepard could respond to the taunts.

"Civilians are still in the building. There are also a bunch of mercs that need eliminating and Grunt and Tank enjoy a fight."

"Yeah!" Grunt said enthusiastically as he pounded his fist into his hand. Tank just cocked his shotgun.

"Just don't slow me down you damned rhinos." Jack said as she walked further into the building.

"Rhinos?"

"Check your goddamned omni-tools!" Zaeed said in exasperation as he followed after Jack.

Shepard turned to the two krogans curiously. "Aren't the two of you more intelligent than the average krogan? You are the krogan equivalent of Miranda. I know that Kelly Chambers has been sending you more and more books on various subjects. So why are you always confused about these things?"

Grunt just grinned. "We're not. But it amuses us to see the old human riled up. Makes his heart race, keeps his body alive in his old age."

"Would be interested in testing your knowledge and ability to assimilate and learn." Mordin requested. "May prove beneficial to creating target orientated syllabus for krogan children."

"Krogans do like targets." Grunt agreed as Tank gave a firm nod.

"Was referring to- oh… krogan joke." Mordin realised and chuckled. "Yes, yes. Must test you soon." He said as he too headed after Jack and Zaeed.

* * *

><p>"Whilst I do not necessarily approve of your deception, I can understand the need for secrecy in this matter." Samara said as she sat with Ash and Harry in the cockpit of the Dog Star. Samara's strength as a biotic had proved to be incredible as it allowed her to see through the spell that prevented people from associating him with Harry. Harry was working on a theory that Justicars and highly talented asari biotics like Sha'ira were the closest the rest of the galaxy had come to magicals.<p>

Due to a fair amount of usage by organics, the geth had overhauled the Dog Star and added features such as windows and chairs.

"If Cerberus discovered you were so close to being in their grip they would not wait to attempt to detain you."

"Which would actually be a good thing." Harry mused. "It would get me inside their base and I could do some physical damage."

"And then Tali and Shiala would do some physical damage to you." Ashley reminded him.

"Your relationship with a 300 year old asari confuses me." Samara frowned. "Humans practice monogamy, you are clearly betrothed to the quarian, the Lieutenant here has claimed you as family… but what is your relationship with the asari girl?" She asked. "I can see that although she travels with the quarian, her devotion is to you."

"I can't say. It is private and very personal and declared classified." Harry shrugged.

"If I am to be a part of your team and to even trust you with my own mission, there should be some level of trust on your part. The relationship troubles me as her attitude is… worrying for an active asari commando."

"Your oath is to Shepard, not to me. It only lasts until Shepard releases you. Shiala deserves her privacy. If you want to know more then you will have to make an oath not to reveal this without mine or Shiala's permission." Harry said steely.

"Do you know what you are asking?" Samara frowned. "The oath is life altering. It affects my will, it controls me."

"Yes, I am well versed in all Justicar lore. But Shiala's secret is bigger than me being the Emissary." Harry sighed and sat back. "Samara, I want to tell you. I have been trying to help Shiala but I can't. You might be able to. But I can't tell you without an oath."

"Harry, you were pretty serious about keeping this classified." Ashley frowned.

"Shiala deserves all the help she can get. Especially after all she has done for us." Harry shook his head. "Especially when you consider _why_ she has helped us."

Samara looked between the two as they talked, she tried to determine a hint as to what was so secret.

"Listen, Samara. Wait until we have dealt with your target. Then you can decide if you want to take the oath and help." Harry offered.

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team had fought their way through numerous mercenaries as they headed up Tower Two. They had even found stashes of civilians who had been protected by the assassin as he too travelled up.<p>

However the civilians were trapped where they were as the assassin was not interested in eliminating the mercenaries, just making sure the innocent survived and the target was dead. He was incredibly stealthy as the rescued civilians were the only hint of his passing.

Fortunately Shepard and his team were more than up to the task of taking out the murderous mercs. Shepard and Garrus would hang back and snipe distant targets with long range weaponry whilst the others engaged in close quarter's combat. Mordin, Jacob and Zaeed watched the backs of the far too exuberant Tank, Grunt and Jack.

Kasumi took Harry's role of a scout and would use her stealth to map out targets and cover. Occasionally she would leave a strategically placed explosive.

Things got eerily quiet as they reached the sky bridge. There were dead mercenaries everywhere along with various geth platforms just standing around motionlessly.

It still took them several minutes to cross the bridge due to the howling winds.

They entered the penthouse office of Nassana Dantius to find her lying dead on the floor at the feet of two geth primes. Lying next Nassana was Thane Krios.

"He's not dead, right?" Garrus asked the primes.

"Negative. Thane Krios completed his mission but was unwilling to remain and speak with us. We incapacitated him and waited for Shepard Captain's arrival." One of them explained.

"Can you wake him?" Shepard asked.

"Affirmative. Recommend taking him to the Stingray. He is currently terminally ill. Further scans must be made by medical platforms to determine ideal healing procedures."

"Alright. Call in the Stingray then." Shepard nodded.

"I can't believe you let him kill her when she was in your custody." Jacob said in disgust.

The prime tilted its head curiously. "Nassana Dantius is guilty of many crimes that require a death sentence. Thane Krios seemed an appropriate executioner."

"Did Harry agree with this?" Garrus asked curiously.

"Harry is aware of what has occurred but he offered no input."

"Why would they care about his opinion?" Jack was confused… but so were most of them.

"Harry is a good friend of the Emissary." Shepard said quickly as he realised they were close to blabbing Harry's secret.

* * *

><p>Thane was kept unconscious on the Dog Star for the time being whilst the medical platforms ran various tests. Shepard had been worried about the morality of experimenting on an unconscious person without their consent but the geth assured him they would be non-invasive and keep all records clear of his identity. They just wanted to create a cure for the disease.<p>

That evening, Shepard and Garrus where the only ones available when they arrived at Liara's apartment for dinner.

Unless you count the assassin that had tried to kill her and the majority of the Illium PD who were rummaging through her apartment.

"What happened here?" Shepard demanded.

"Someone tried to kill your friend, Captain Shepard." An asari in body armour remarked casually as she strolled down the stairs. "Officer, your people are dismissed." She told the asari officer guarding the entrance to the apartment.

"You can't do that." She argued.

"Already done."

The officer just gestured to her colleagues and left, she wasn't going to waste her time.

"Tela Vasir. Special Tactics and Recon." The asari introduced herself.

"A spectre." Garrus mused. "Why would a spectre other than Shepard be rummaging through Liara's apartment?"

"Dr. T'Soni is a very important person. High profile, widely respected, daughter of two very high ranking officials… need I go on?" She said sarcastically.

"Just up to the point where a spectre is tracking her outside Citadel Space." Shepard said casually.

"It is _because_ she left Citadel Space." Tela said. "You were killed once already. Vakarian there vanished off the grid for several months along with Alenko and Williams. The only person we were able to track was Urdnot Wrex.

"The Council was fending off rumours of assassination attempts on their part to silence you about the Reapers. They couldn't afford to have another member of your former team coming to a bloody end."

"So they sent you." Garrus stated.

"So they sent me." She looked around impatiently. "Now that we've got the interrogation out of the way, can we get down to investigating the _actual_ crime?"

"Sure. What do you know?" Shepard asked.

"Just a few things." She said as she walked over to the large curved windows where there was bullet hole. "As you can see, someone used a non-standard issue sniper rifle to try and assassinate the Doctor. The bullet broke the glass but the good Doctor had a kinetic barrier installed that deflected the bullet. Lucky girl." She was impressed.

"Not luck. Intelligence and wisdom." Shepard said somewhat defensively. "Liara knew the score. She was there on Ilos and the Citadel. Whilst I was in a coma recovering, she was dealing with the political shit storm."

"That and I personally requisitioned the kinetic barrier for her." Garrus shrugged.

"You people take this whole team mentality seriously." Tela mused. "Most spectres are solo operatives."

"What else can you tell me? There are no blood splashes but this place has been tossed." Shepard pointed at the strewn personal items all over the place.

"Best guess says she left in a hurry and then the assassin came and searched for clues about where she was going."

"For help?" Shepard suggested.

"From who? As far as she knows anyone could be after her."

"She knew we were on the planet. She would have contacted us." Shepard disagreed. "There must have been something she had to do and a problem with her communicators.

"Garrus, what can you tell me about the shooter?"

Garrus walked over to the window and used his omni-tool to examine the hole. The kinetic barrier flared briefly and he stepped away and continued working on the data being projected.

"Ok, based on the angles on the broken glass and the force of the projectile recorded by the barrier, the shooter was about two miles away and six hundred feet up." He pointed to the tall building in the distance.

"You can determine all that from the barrier and the hole?" Tela asked in amazement.

"I _was_ a detective." Garrus said pointedly.

"Liara would have known she had time before the shooter took another shot and the barrier would have told her how many more shots it could have handled." Shepard said thoughtfully.

"Unless the shooter had warp modded ammo." Garrus added.

"So she probably avoided the window." Shepard nodded.

"Is there a point to all this?" Tela asked impatiently.

"Yes. The point is that we know where not to look for any message or evidence she left us." Shepard glared at her. He turned to Garrus. "Somewhere that might be significant to us but out of range of the windows."

"Or significant for one of the others." Garrus said.

"No, she knew the others were off world."

"I'll check upstairs." Shepard said as he walked off.

It didn't take long before Shepard jogged down the stairs holding a portrait. He showed to Garrus who watched as it changed from a picture of the Normandy to an image of what appeared to be…

"Its just gibberish." Tela said as she looked over their shoulder at a string of letters and numbers.

"It's a code." Garrus corrected. "It gives us her destination and the name of her contact."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tela said as she headed for the exit.

Garrus and Shepard shared a concerned look before they followed her.

* * *

><p>Their destination was the Dracon Trade Centre. A relatively small building compared to the rest of Illium's mega towers but still tall enough to be a skyscraper.<p>

They arrived just in time to be knocked off their feet as a series of explosions ripped through the building showering them with debris.

"Garrus, call in the Utah. I want the crew searching for survivors and tending the injured. Have joker bring the whole ship."

"On it."

"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead!" Tela said in awe. "I'll grab the sky car and seal the building from the top down."

Garrus and Shepard watched her run off.

"We need to hurry if we are going to find Liara before she does." Garrus commented as they walked towards the entrance. "Tell me again why we don't just take Tela in now?"

"Because Harry isn't here and we need to know more about her. The only way that is going to happen is to wait for her to slip up."

The duo headed up through the building to the Barrier Frontier's offices where they had told Vasir that Liara was headed. They reached it only to be confronted by gunfire.

"Vasir! We're pinned down. Mercs, well-armed!" Shepard said over the radio.

"_Say hello to the Shadow Broker's personal army, Captain."_ She remarked.

"Now how would she know that?" Garrus mused.

"Have you run into them up top?" Shepard asked.

"_Negative. It's all quiet up here. Still working my way down."_

"We'll handle these mercenaries and meet up with you. Shepard out."

Garrus threw a Harry-Enhanced grenade into the room ahead before running deep into a corner.

The explosion was as loud and violent as he expected.

The only sounds now coming from the room were of burning fires and sprinkler systems.

The pair cautiously made their way into the room.

The largest part of a merc they could find was an armoured shin plate.

"Garrus, next time warn me _before_ you throw the grenade." Shepard glared at him.

"Ah… sorry Shepard." He winced.

The pair made it through without further issue only to come across Tela Vasir holding Liara and a salarian at gunpoint. Shepard signalled for Garrus and the pair activated their cloaks and hid.

"You have been such a thorn in the Shadow Broker's hide." Vasir sneered at Liara as the salarian hid behind her.

"And you are a poor excuse for a spectre." Liara smirked. "You only needed one shot to take me out and you couldn't even manage that. You blew up a building and still failed."

"As the human's say… third times the charm."

"Tela Vasir, you are under arrest for terrorist acts." Shepard said as he de-cloaked and walked up beside Liara holding his own gun on Vasir. "As well as the attempted murder of Liara and Sekat." He indicated the salarian.

"You knew?" She asked with a disbelieving scoff as she backed up. "All this time you knew I was the shooter?"

"Like you said, we take this team mentality stuff seriously." Shepard shrugged.

"This isn't over."

"It looks fairly over to me." Garrus smirked.

"There is a reason I was made a spectre." She said as the window behind her cracked.

"Shields!" Shepard shouted as Vasir raised a hand at them covered in biotic energy.

Liara immediately erected a biotic shield as they were pelted by glass from the window.

When it ceased Vasir was gone.

"We have to stop her." Liara said quickly as they ran to the window to see Vasir running off below. "She can't be allowed to warn the Shadow Broker."

"Everybody jump." Shepard ordered.

The three jumped and for the first time Garrus and Shepard used their new biotics in a live scenario to break their fall.

The trio had to fight their way through more Shadow Broker agents but Liara was fairly pissed as she wiped the floor with them using her biotics.

They reached the bottom of the building and exited out the back to see Vasir jumping into her sky car.

"Over here, we'll take this one." Liara said quickly as she hacked the doors on a blue taxi.

"I'll fly." Shepard said quickly.

"Goddess!"

"Spirits save us!"

"Just get in!"

The pair buckled up tightly as they continued to say their prayers.

Whilst Liara sat in the front passenger seat with her eyes shut and her faith in the goddess tested, Garrus was discovering the truth of what Harry had told them on Noveria.

Shepard couldn't drive but he could certainly fly.

"How are you doing this?" He asked from the back seat.

"No idea." Shepard said as he dodged around wild traffic that had been sent spiralling everywhere due to Vasir driving against traffic.

"Are you using the geth or your neural interface?"

"Nope… hold on!"

There was a horrible moment where an exceptionally large heavy goods vehicle had to swerve to miss Vasir and Shepard had to dip under it.

"Garrus, are we dead yet?" Liara asked weakly, her eyes still tightly shut.

"Not quite… Shepard is nearly as good as Harry and Joker."

"That does _not_ make me feel any safer!" She said harshly.

"Shepard-"

"I see it."

"See what?" Liara asked worriedly.

"_Shepard!"_

"I see it!"

"_SHEPARD!"_

"Shut the hell up Garrus!" Shepard barked as he dodged another large vehicle.

"Doesn't this thing have weapons?" Shepard demanded irritably.

"It's a taxi cab. It has a fare meter." Liara said waspishly.

"Maybe I should try throwing it at Vasir." Garrus offered.

"_Shepard, this is Joker. I'm coming up ahead of you. I'll cut her off and try and ground her."_

"You're in the Utah?"

"_Affirmative, the geth have the Stingray."_

"Call the play Joker."

"_Roger that."_

They had entered a tunnel just as Vasir's car began dropping proximity mines. Shepard easily avoided them and was able to see the Stingray drop in behind them and block the tunnel.

As they rounded a bend they saw the Utah Beach hovering at the entrance menacingly. A shot was fired from the left wing and Vasir's car went careening into the side of the tunnel.

Shepard quickly landed as the Stingray did the same.

As the door to Vasir's sky car was pushed off the battered frame, Shepard fired two shots at the emerging figure.

Vasir now had one good leg and a hole in her stomach.

"You're dead." She rasped as she sat back against the car holding her stomach. "The Shadow Broker has been in power for decades. He's stronger than anything you've ever faced!"

"Now that is just not true and you know it." Garrus smirked. "We've taken out Reapers and rachni."

"You are going to rot in a prison for the rest of your sad life." Shepard said as he knelt down in front of her.

"Ha! I'm not stupid Shepard. I know I'm mortally wounded." She spat some blood to the side.

"Only if it isn't treated."

"Doesn't matter. The Council won't let me be locked up for long."

"One, the Council won't get a say. Two, they will definitely lock you up for terrorist acts."

"They don't care about a few counts of collateral damage. Besides, if that's what it takes to get the information from the Shadow Broker then that's what I'll do."

"Kill the innocent?" Liara asked in disgust.

"I _save_ lives. I ensure the Citadel is safe!" Vasir spat again.

"The cost is far too high."

"You don't get to judge me, Shepard." She sneered. "You work with Cerberus. Do you know what your new friends have done?"

"Better than they do." Shepard scowled.

"And you think you have the right to look down on me? No, Shepard, you are _worse_ than me."

"Ah Vasir. Poor naïve Vasir." Garrus sighed mockingly. He knelt down next to Shepard. "You ever thought about engaging that brain of yours? Why would a paragon of virtue, like Captain John Shepard, ever have anything to do with a corrupt organisation like Cerberus?" He smirked.

Vasir frowned thoughtfully. Then her eyes widened in realisation.

"You can ponder on that from your tiny little cell." Garrus said as he injected her with a sedative.

"It probably wasn't wise to reveal that bit of information." Liara frowned as the two men stood up.

"She is going into geth custody. She won't see another organic for some time." Shepard assured her.

"Mordin, take this one onto the Stingray." Shepard ordered as the team approached. "We'll rendezvous with a geth ship for a transfer."

"Understood Shepard." The salarian acknowledged as he got to work.

"So, shall we go and talk to Seket?" Liara offered the two men.

* * *

><p>"I assume this is all your doing?" Samara asked as she walked into the main area just outside the Dog Star's docking corridor and Afterlife on Omega.<p>

The place was nearly completely different.

Aside from the fact that there were geth platforms walking around everywhere and fixing things, there were krogan standing around at strategic points looking either bored or menacing.

And then there was the lighting.

Instead of the dismal dull yellow to red tinged lighting, bright white lights now illuminated the area making it much clearer what piece of crap you were about to step in.

Ok, so there was still a fair amount of work to be done. But the geth were on the job.

"I just suggested a few things here and there." Harry waved a dismissive hand.

"That's not how Shepard tells it." Ashley smirked. "I'm sure he mentioned something about using Aria as a footstool."

"Now _that_ is a bald-faced lie!" Harry said indignantly. "I just… neutered her power and made her answer to me." He mumbled.

"Do we need to go and make an appearance before Aria?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"No, the less I am seen in her presence the better it is for her image."

"And her sanity."

"Shut up!"

"We will need information if we are to track Morinth down." Samara tried to turn the two friends back on topic.

"It took us ages to get here and I have a ton of people on this station, you don't think I already know where she lives?" Harry asked.

"We will still need a plan. Morinth is not someone to be taken lightly. She is skilled, cunning-"

"And just as fallible as the rest of us." Harry sighed. "Come on, I already have a plan."

Harry led them to the nearest transport terminal where a car was already waiting for them. He then drove them to a much more affluent area. It was Omega's version of the Presidium.

"Welcome to Morinth's apartment." Harry said as he led them into the pent house suite of fairly upscale hotel.

"Sweet digs. How did she swing this?" Ashley asked.

"She's using mental domination on the manager."

"And your people have done nothing to stop it?" Samara frowned.

"It would send her running. Then we'd have to track her down again." Harry explained. "The manager is a sleeze bag who is getting everything he deserves."

"So what's your plan?" Ashley asked.

"I set up some goodies and then we wait."

* * *

><p>"You promise to come and visit?"<p>

"I promise to try, Ori." Miranda rolled her eyes. Her baby sister was so demanding.

Oriana looked at Tali and Shiala with a raised eyebrow.

"If she behaves herself we will try and bring her back." Shiala promised. "Just remember who she works for and that your neighbours aren't too fond of them."

"If she steps out of line, call me. I'll put her straight." Oriana said menacingly.

"I am going to kill Potter."

"It probably isn't smart to say that within earshot of his fiancée and best friend." Joanna Handle, Oriana's adopted mother, smirked.

"Nor the girl who has him to thank for giving her a sister." Oriana continued to glare.

"Come along Miss Lawson." Shiala ordered playfully. "We still have a galaxy to save."

"Painfully and slowly." Miranda muttered.

* * *

><p>"Mother… so you found someone to serve you." Morinth sneered.<p>

She was currently suspended in mid-air by a device that Ashley was fairly familiar with considering it was holding Liara trapped when they first met her.

"Do not call me that Morinth!" Samara said harshly. The pain and emotional anguish was clear. "You made your choice and now I will put an end to all the suffering you have caused."

"Please! Leave her alone!"

Ashley was currently holding back a young girl in her early twenties. Morinth had brought her back to the apartment.

"I am sorry child." Samara said compassionately. "I wish more than anything that I-"

"Then don't." Harry interrupted calmly from the couch.

"It must be done. She cannot-"

"Yes, yes." Harry said dismissively. "She needs to pay for her crimes and we all need to ensure that she can't kill again.

"But that doesn't mean we have to kill her and waste this amazing opportunity." He smiled.

"Speak quickly. I find myself extremely disturbed by your implications."

"You have two other daughters who have nobly sequestered themselves. With their help and the unwilling help of this monster," he gestured at Morinth, "I can possibly find a cure."

"I will never help you!" Morinth spat.

"I guess she didn't get intelligence when she absorbed the life force from people." Harry rolled his eyes. "I said 'unwilling' you stupid bint."

"You wish to experiment on her? Cut her open an-"

"Whoa! There is _no_ cutting!" Harry said quickly. "We can monitor brain waves remotely along with biotic and dark energy.

"Now, if your other daughters would be willing then an invasive examination of their brains would be helpful. It is totally painless and Shiala has under gone it already.

"But you are missing the point… your other daughters could be free to walk the galaxy without having to worry that they will be overcome by the urge to kill."

"My children." Samara said mournfully.

The doors to the apartment opened to admit a squad of geth carrying an over sized coffin.

"We are going to put Morinth in stasis for now. If you still want her dead we will do it for you." Harry said. He walked up to her and looked her firmly in the eyes. "But let me make one thing very clear: No mother will ever be forced to kill their child. Not whilst I can stop it."


	27. Chapter 27

"Hagalaz; this is a mission I refuse to do without, at the very least, Harry." Shepard said firmly. "That said, we will wait until the whole team is ready."

The ground team was assembled in the conference room as they examined the data on the planet Hagalaz where Liara's contact, Seket, had managed to track the Shadow Broker to.

"Why do we need that punk?" Jack scowled.

"Quiet, Pyjack." Grunt said calmly. "If you have to ask then you aren't smart enough to live."

"You calling me dumb?" She asked.

"Shut up Jack. I don't have time for this." Shepard said tiredly. "We are currently down by five members and our two newest members are also unavailable. The geth say that Thane should be up soon. The Tiger-Lilly is a day out from us and the Dog Star is three. We are also three days away from Hagalaz.

"We don't want to move too early and we don't want to make it obvious we are heading for the Shadow Broker."

"If we all head for the Hourglass Nebula now we would arrive at approximately the same time." Mordin pointed out.

"We would also be approaching in a three pronged attack." Garrus added. "It really wouldn't get better than this."

"Alright, we'll make our way there. I'll alert the others. The rest of you read Liara's reports on the Broker's ship and the planet. The risk factor on this one is through the roof."

* * *

><p>Whilst Shepard handled communications with the others, Garrus headed onto the Stingray to check on Thane. The drell was currently awake and examining the room he was in.<p>

"I apologise for the way we met… as well as your current captivity, Mr. Krios." Garrus said sincerely as he entered the room.

"And yet, I am still a prisoner." Thane said calmly.

"Only in so far as you can't actually get off the ship because we are travelling at the moment. But as soon as we hit somewhere with a port you are welcome to leave. Until then you are free to leave this room and talk to the rest of the crew. We will set you up with some quarters."

"You have captured me only to set me free again? A curious scenario." Thane mused as he sat down at the table opposite Garrus. "It would be far more prudent to kill me if you simply wanted me out of the way."

"We actually wanted to recruit you." Garrus said as he slid a medical injector across the table. "That contains nanites that will cure you of Kepral's Syndrome. No strings attached. It is currently being offered to the drell via the hanar by the geth."

"And yet you add more fuel to the fire of my curiosity." He said as he fingered the vial. "For what purpose did you want to recruit me?"

"Unfortunately it is a mission that could kill us all. But the alternative is the extinction of every organic being in the galaxy."

"Ah… I recognise you now. You are the turian who served with Spectre Shepard. The one who defeated these so called 'Reapers'."

"Garrus Vakarian. Call me Garrus. The Reapers are real and exceptionally dangerous. They are currently searching for a way back into the galaxy now that we have eliminated the Citadel as a possible route.

"We believe they are using the Collectors this time and it involves the mass abduction of humans. Our goal is to travel through the Omega Relay and determine their-"

"_All hands to battle stations! I repeat, all hands to battle stations! Ferris Fields has gone dark. Ground Team to the conference room."_ Shepard's voice sounded.

"Damn. You might as well come and see what we are up against. You can make your decision when you are ready." Garrus said as he stood.

* * *

><p>Garrus led Thane off of the Stingray but didn't give him a chance to look around in case he got caught up on the whole 'bigger on the inside' aspect of the Stingray.<p>

They took the lift to the conference room where everyone was assembled.

Shepard didn't bother with introductions as he got straight to the point. "You all heard: Ferris Fields has gone dark.

"The Alliance instructed each colony to set up a dead man's switch beacon. So long as the person attached to the beacon was there and activated it regularly… the beacon would transmit and we would know the colony was safe.

"Twenty minutes ago we confirmed the beacon was silent.

"The Tiger-Lilly and Dog Star have already altered course. Admiral Hackett has the entire fifth fleet en route and the geth are already in the area.

"Assuming that the Collectors are involved, the fleets will attempt to disable their ship. We will then board and attempt to commandeer it.

"Our priority is getting Harry to the command centre as he is the only one capable of controlling the ship and preventing it from blowing up around us.

"Any questions?"

"Have we had any confirmed sightings?" Jacob asked.

"No. Whilst there are geth and Alliance ships in the Terminus, they have to be careful about where they travel."

"This plan makes no sense." Grunt rumbled. "The colony is lost. It could take days to search the systems for a single ship."

"So we just leave them?" Jacob asked in disgust.

"We don't know where they are… but we know where they will go." Grunt retorted as he activated the holographic display to show the Omega Nebula. "All of Shepard's intel says they live beyond the Omega Relay. We should head there and ambush them."

"My brother is right." Tank said calmly. "All allied ships in the Terminus are closer to the Omega Nebular than the colony. We can hit them with a much greater force if we ambush them."

"Any objections or addendums?" Shepard asked the room. "Fine. I'll alert Hackett and the Emissary."

* * *

><p>When the Utah arrived at the Omega Relay, the rest of the fleet had already assembled. The Fifth Fleet was hidden in the atmosphere of the planet Imorkan, a gas giant.<p>

The geth were hidden further away near the system's sun.

Flying randomly over Urdak, the last planet in the system was the Dog Star and the Tiger-Lilly. As soon as the Utah Beach joined them they linked up. Harry left the Dog Star in the hands of the geth as did Shiala and Tali with the Tiger-Lilly.

"Any word on the Collectors?" Harry asked as he stormed through the airlock and up to Shepard who was standing by the galaxy map.

"Negative. We're just sitting here, waiting." Shepard was clearly irritated.

"Where do you want us Skipper?" Ashley asked.

"Hanger bay. Make sure you are prepped with the rest of the team. Once that ship is stopped we will be clearing a path for Harry."

"Aye, aye." She saluted and headed off, taking Samara with her.

"Let's go to my quarters." Shepard said pointedly.

* * *

><p>"Tell me the truth Harry, what are our chances of putting a dent in that ship?" Shepard asked seriously as they sat on his couch.<p>

"I have no idea." Harry said. "Our best bet may be to shoot me at the damned ship so I can board alone."

"That is never going to happen, Harry." Shepard shook his head.

"Three million colonists, John. I am a very small sacrifice in comparison." Harry said shakily. "I'm none too thrilled by the idea myself… but I don't think I could wake up every morning knowing I didn't try."

"I'm not shooting you at that ship unless I know for a fact you can actually land on it." Shepard leaned forward. "It will be futile to shoot you only for you to bounce off kinetic barriers."

"The geth can always pick me up."

"Assuming you don't get atomised by crossfire!"

"_Three. Million. Colonists._" Harry said fiercely.

Shepard leaned back frustratedly. "What the hell is bothering you so much?" He asked. "I've never seen you this nervous before. You've dropped from orbit without blinking an eye. You shoved your arm in a thresher maw's mouth with hesitation.

"Jesus Harry! You're sweating! What is wrong?"

"I don't know!" Harry said irritably. "Maybe it's because I've never had to play the waiting game like this. We've always charged the enemy.

"It doesn't help that I can remember what happened to the Normandy. I saw the devastation, John. I saw it as we approached the wreckage and I saw it as I held you during re-entry."

Shepard looked at him compassionately. "Harry-"

"No John. I _don't_ believe we can dent the damned ship. I think that the only way to save the colonists is to get me on board. But that means passing their barriers. I know how powerful that ship will be. I've seen the specs and I know that as long as the kinetic barrier is up we don't stand a chance." Harry said morosely.

"Doesn't mean we won't try." Shepard said softly. "Doesn't mean we can't succeed."

"_Captain Shepard to the CIC. Captain Shepard to the CIC."_ Came Miranda's voice.

"Merlin." Harry muttered. "I'll head to my ship."

Shepard just nodded.

* * *

><p>Shepard, Joker and Harry were the only ones who had witnessed a Collector ship in a space battle.<p>

Although that was more of a space massacre.

The three men were having flash backs to that day when they had lost so much.

The ship didn't stall, falter or even react as the geth moved out of the system's star and planted the carrier directly in the path of the Collector ship.

The Collector ship didn't fire its weapons as the Alliance Fleet fired everything they had.

It wasn't until the Utah joined the fray that the Collector's began returning fire. But they were clearly only trying to fire glancing blows at the ship. Occasionally they fired a shot at an Alliance vessel that proved to be slightly more than an annoyance, but the ship trundled on.

"Harry, that thing isn't stopping!" Shepard warned over the radio as sparks flew from various consoles and the crew pulled their comrades from burning seats. "Get the carrier out of the way!"

"_Don't worry about the geth."_ Harry replied. _"They should be fine. Its just hardware."_

Shepard watched as the carrier fired every weapon and stood its ground against the juggernaut that was the Collector ship.

As the two vessel's kinetic barriers collided there was a bright flash around both ships.

But it was clear they were all outmatched as the carrier's barriers failed and the Collectors ploughed through causing the immense craft to detonate.

"Harry!"

"_It's okay. Most of them made it out."_

Shepard could hear the strain in Harry's voice.

"Fall back Harry, we aren't achieving anything." Shepard ordered.

"_I have to give it a try, John."_

Shepard could hear that Harry was moving on his ship. The Dog Star suddenly banked.

"Shit! This is Captain John Shepard to all ships. The Dog Star has fired Potter at the Collectors. Track him and intercept all fire. We must save him at all cost!"

"_This is Admiral Hackett, Shepard's orders are confirmed. Defend Potter."_

"Joker, I'm taking the Stingray after him. Guide me in."

Shepard ran as fast as he could to the Hanger, he was never more glad that he had allowed Harry to speed up the elevator. The ground team was already on board.

Shepard slung himself into the pilot seat as the bay doors opened and the Stingray shot out like a bullet.

"_This is Potter."_ Shepard's heart sunk at the defeat in his friend's voice. _"I've bounced off the kinetic barrier. I'm sorry. I failed."_

"_Admiral, Captain, the mass relay is firing up."_ Joker warned.

"_All ships, cease fire."_ Hackett ordered. _"We can't afford to damage the relay. Everyone fall back and assess the damage. Shepard, find Potter and bring him home."_

"Aye, aye, Admiral." Shepard said with determination.

"Shepard… I've got three geth dreadnoughts heading to the relay, hot on the Collectors tail." Liara reported.

"Geth, what are you doing? Fall back." Shepard ordered.

"_These units will follow the Collectors. We will attempt to return or send data back to aid you."_ Came the synthetic voice.

"_Fall back you idiots!"_ Harry barked. _"We are severely out gunned. All you are going to do is get lost beyond the relay. You won't be able to transmit yourselves back home!"_

"_We understand."_ Was the simple reply.

"_FALL BACK!"_ Harry shouted as he floated in space. _"DON'T DO THIS! I AM THE EMISSARY! YOU CALLED ME HERE FOR A REASON! LISTEN TO ME! FALL BACK!"_

"_More information is required. The Collectors must be defeated. Organic life must be preserved."_

The mass relay flared red as the energy grabbed the Collector ship and tossed it across the galaxy. A split second later the three dreadnoughts followed.

"_YOU BASTARDS! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!"_ Harry screamed.

"_Connection to dreadnoughts has been lost."_

"_Geth, how many programs were on those ships?"_ Hackett sounded incredibly hoarse.

"_At time of departure through the mass relay there were one point two billion programs. Additional programs were added during the final seconds to increase the processing power of the dreadnoughts."_

"_Geth… stand down from battle stations. Find the Emissary. Get him back to Shepard."_ Hackett ordered, it was clear he was having a hard time controlling his emotions.

He knew just what the geth had sacrificed. He had worked closely with them.

There weren't enough medals and commendations in the universe.

* * *

><p>"How is Harry?" Hackett asked as Shepard, Garrus and Ashley entered his office on his ship.<p>

"Sedated." Shepard sighed. "He was near catatonic as it was when the geth brought him aboard. They wouldn't let the Utah's doctor near him and it took Ash- Lieutenant Williams and Tali to convince the geth to let Mordin treat him."

Hackett sat back in exhaustion. "It was bad enough that we were losing an entire colony. But to have the geth _willingly_ sacrifice a planet's worth of their population to a desperate and clearly doomed attempt to save them…

"There is one thing that always stands out to me when I see a geth in battle. Harry told us that the geth fear death like any other living creature.

"I just hope the people back home can grasp the magnitude of what just happened."

"Admiral, what do we do about Harry's revelation? He just announced to the fleet and Cerberus that he is the Emissary." Garrus asked.

"We defend him." Hackett said firmly. "That man shot himself at an enemy ship just to save others. If anyone decides to say a damned thing about his little deception… stomp on them… hard."

Whilst Shepard and Garrus just nodded in approval, Ashley was shocked. She would have thought the Admiral would have pushed for tact and diplomacy. She held her tongue though… she had no issues with defending Harry.

"I'm going to request that the geth put a full compliment on the Utah." Shepard said. "I think Harry could use the physical company."

"According to the geth, Harry was trying to digitally board the geth dreadnoughts when they vanished." Hackett shook his head in disbelief. "It took most of the geth fleet to stop him."

"What do we do about future Collector attacks?" Ashley asked. "We've just seen that they can withstand the combined power of two whole fleets."

"At this moment the geth are attempting move the Omega Relay closer to this system's sun." Hackett explained. "They will attempt to turn it so that any ship exiting will find themselves in the sun's core. The Fifth Fleet will remain nearby just in case the Collector cruisers can survive. Hopefully the sun will take down their barriers."

"What do we do now?" Garrus asked. "We won't stand a chance against the Collectors, even if we did know how to get through the relay."

"You take the time to hone your team." Hackett ordered. "I've got my scientists heading to Rannoch. They, along with every other scientist of the Emissary's Free People, will be working on new weapons and tech. We are not going to let you go into the relay without intel and the best defences you can get."

"We could follow up on our earlier mission." Garrus suggested. "There is likely to be a lot of intel and some of it has to relate to the Collectors and Reapers."

Shepard nodded and turned to Hackett. "The nature of the mission is such that we won't talk about it outside of QEC and the Utah. If we are successful then the Citadel and the Alliance will benefit greatly."

Hackett shook his head. "You're a Spectre, Captain. You don't answer to me. Just keep a tight rein on your crew." He warned, referring to the people like Jack.

"Aye sir. Hopefully we will have some news for you in a few days."

* * *

><p>Harry was uncharacteristically silent when he woke up. He responded to questions but gave no opinions. Tali was really beginning to worry.<p>

Eventually Liara, Ashley and Shiala had taken him aside and just hugged him tightly until he broke down and cried.

Tali actually contacted the Consort herself and warned her to keep time free to help Harry.

The day they were due to head to the Shadow Broker's lair something arrived and Harry's mood improved.

"_This is the Alliance SSV Normandy SR-1 requesting permission to join the First Fleet of the Emissary's Free People under Spectre Captain John Shepard. Please respond."_

"My god!" Ashley gasped as the very familiar ship rippled into view as it dropped a cloak. "Is that-?"

"Our home." Joker nodded with a good deal of respect. "Built from the original materials. Manned by the original crew with vacant spots filled by citizens of the Emissary's Free People."

"But it was in pieces! Scattered across several miles!" Shepard argued.

"One word, Captain: Geth."

"Well damn." He muttered. "Who has command?"

"Adams is the current ranking officer. They are here to put themselves under your command until you can assign someone and relieve the Chief."

"It's a shame Kaiden isn't here." Ashley muttered.

"Sir, you might want to respond… I know you're getting all teary-eyed back there but they are waiting." Joker smirked.

"Open a channel." Shepard ordered. "SSV Normandy, this is the Utah. Welcome to the First Fleet of the Emissary's Free People."

"Nice… didn't even hear your voice hitch once." Joker quipped.

"Garrus, you'll take command of the Normandy. The crew will trust you."

"Shepard, I'm not command material." Garrus said with a nervous laugh. "I can think for myself but… this is-"

"I know." Shepard nodded. "You work a little too much like Harry. But I just need you to keep things together until we get Kaiden back."

"That I can do." He nodded.

* * *

><p>"You do realise that the geth were only following your example?"<p>

Harry looked up and smiled as he saw Karin Chakwas standing at the entrance to his tent.

"I have never done something lik-"

"You walked into a forest with the sole intent of allowing a mad man to kill you, just so you would be able to save your people.

"You ran full tilt at a thresher maw to save a bunch of soldiers whose faces you hadn't even met yet.

"You flew head first into the belly of a Reaper so you could defend the Citadel.

"You-"

"I get it! I get it!"

"Let me finish, young man." Karin said warningly.

"You fired yourself at John Shepard in the vain attempt to try and save him from burning up during re-entry.

"And finally, but only because I have probably forgotten something, you fought your way through a Collector ship to capture it so you could save twelve million colonists who had been fairly insulting to your friend.

"Like I said, following your example."

"And for some reason they seem to take pride in that." Harry grumbled.

"Good!" She said as she sat on the sofa opposite him. "What they did was a truly noble act."

"There was no evidence to suggest they would survive the trip though!"

"And there was no evidence to suggest you would have survived your adventures either." Karin retorted. "But it didn't stop you from trying."

"Emissary Potter?"

Harry and Karin turned to see Samara standing where Karin had stood moments earlier.

"Samara, come in. And just call me Harry."

"Thank you, but I have come to talk to the Emissary." She said as she stepped forward and bowed.

Harry stood and frowned. He really hoped she wasn't looking so serious because she was about to kill him.

"I have spoken with my daughters. I have told them of all you have done. They wish to submit themselves to the geth for medical tests to help with a cure for their condition."

"Oh… well, great." Harry said. He was slightly surprised, there was a lot of suspicion and distrust of Ardat-Yakshi, it tended to go both ways. "Are going to have a problem getting the geth to them or them to the geth?"

"I will need to speak with all my allies on Thessia but I believe we can gain authorisation."

"If not… just don't worry about." Harry gave her a pointed look. "I'll figure something out.

"What made you change your mind?" Karin asked curiously. She had been briefed on the situation due to her expertise in xeno-biology.

"When the Emissary and his people willingly sacrifice themselves for a people who wouldn't even walk around him if he fell… could we really do any less?" Samara asked rhetorically.

"See Harry? Whilst the geth on the dreadnoughts may not have been able to save the colonists or provide intel, they have already affected the galaxy." Karin told him.

"You are still suffering the loss of your fellow geth?" Samara asked.

"Things are substantially quieter up here." Harry tapped his temple with a soft, humourless snort. "We just lost the equivalent of a solar system of highly populated planets."

"Then we must remember them and seek to live up to their example." Samara said firmly.

"My god!"

The three turned to see Miranda Lawson now standing at the entrance to the tent.

"How do you manage to warp the area to fit it all in?" She asked in awe as she looked around the tent for the first time.

"What is this? Visit Harry Day?" He really regretted taking down the wards so Tali and Shiala could invite the friends they made on the crew.

"Ah, Potter. I still have a strong desire to make you suffer for what you did on Illium but after the last battle with the Collectors I will let it pass." She said as she walked up.

"How generous of you." Karin muttered.

"We need to talk about more pressing things. You have just revealed yourself as the Emissary and you are sitting on a Cerberus ship. I haven't spoken to Shepard yet but I need to know how you intend for this to play out."

"You mean you aren't going to just try and strap me to an examination table?" Harry asked slightly amused.

Miranda took a deep calming breath. "Whilst I can see the benefits of an invasive procedure to determine the source of your abilities and possibly even to examine the construction of your synthetic skeletal structure and brain, I have three issues with that:

"First, I doubt there is anyone on this ship who could take you down.

"Second, this ship and Cerberus would not survive an assault from your fleets and allies.

"Third, I have just witnessed you attempt to singlehandedly save the kidnapped colonies of Ferris Fields.

"I have no desire to mar what you have just done for humanity… or what you did for my family."

Harry gave her a small smile. "I appreciate the consideration, but just for the record, any invasive procedure on my body or brain would likely result in one thing… a great big explosion."

"Your body is booby trapped?" Samara asked in surprise.

"Not purposefully." Harry explained. "But rather than let my body be used and defiled, the geth would take control and overload my biotics."

Harry gave them a cheeky grin. "The geth are really curious about what would happen if my magic exploded. Would it affect the area in some random way?"

"There is something else that you and Cerberus have overlooked." Karin told Miranda. "The geth have made all the enhancement plans and blueprints for Harry available to our medical corps. Dissecting Harry would be a waste of time as the Alliance has all that information."

"But Cerberus does not." Miranda countered.

"The geth aren't handing advanced technology to a terrorist organisation? I'm shocked." Karin said dryly.

Miranda chose not to rise to her baiting. "There is also the information we could learn about Potter's 'magic'." She clearly didn't believe there was such a thing.

"You think the geth haven't investigated that?" Karin laughed derisively. "Twice now they have had Harry splayed open on an operating table. They watched his body as it re-grew most of itself. They could find nothing."

"Which doesn't mean that Cerberus couldn't." Miranda argued.

"Ah the arrogance of the young." Samara sighed. "The young often forget that whilst they may make astounding breakthroughs in their youth, it is usually the experienced elders who achieve such feats with regularity."

"We have gotten off topic." Miranda said. She could tell they wouldn't listen to her. She wasn't sure they were wrong, she just doubted this whole magic thing. "How do you wish to handle The Illusive Man? I don't know if he will want to acquire you but I know he doesn't like surprises."

"I'll just work _reaaally_ hard to piss him off." Harry grinned.

Miranda didn't believe he was joking for a second.

* * *

><p>"I know you don't have much of a reason to trust me Shepard, but you are definitely pushing the boundaries of our arrangement." The Illusive Man frowned as he sat in his chair.<p>

"You've ignored my calls-"

"Sorry about that, I was in the middle of trying to save innocent colonists." Shepard shrugged.

"Yes… somehow you are able to obtain information before I can give it to you."

"True." Shepard nodded. "What is it you are bringing to the table again?" He asked with mock curiosity.

"What I bring, Shepard, is the will and the drive to do what others won't." The Illusive Man scowled. "I know you Shepard. I know how you work. You may have your resources but that doesn't mean they are willing to do what they must to get the job done."

"You mean like torture, murder and all those other things that decent people abhor?"

The Illusive Man gave him a look of disgust but moved on. "What really makes me doubt our relationship is that you had the Emissary this whole time and hid it from me."

"And this concerns you because… ?"

"Are you aware what Cerberus could learn from a single strand of his DNA?" The Illusive Man demanded angrily.

"That he has black hair, green eyes, short sightedness and biotics." Shepard rattled off.

"And what about this so-called 'magic'? We could learn how to harness that power!"

"And what gives you the right to my power?" The Illusive Man took a step back in surprise at the appearance of Harry in the holographic circle.

"Potter." He snarled.

"That's 'Emissary' to you, Jack Harper."

The Illusive Man paled.

"Yes, I know who you are. I know your history." Harry smiled nastily. "But most importantly, every government and law enforcement official knows it now too."

The Illusive Man was pissed… livid… literally homicidal.

He raised his right arm and activated his omni-tool.

"This is The Illusive Man. Effective immediately I am ordering all members of the Cerberus ship, Normandy, to apprehend and detain the members of Shepard's team. If necessary, kill them. Do _not_ let them escape."

Harry smirked and raised his hand. He snapped his fingers and the images of nebulae and space in the Illusive Man's room changed to reveal that Shepard and Harry were not standing in the Conference room but in the hanger bay. Behind them was assembled the entire crew of the Utah barring the doctor and two others who were bound and gagged at their feet.

"In the interests of humanity, we refuse all orders from Cerberus and declare ourselves free agents." Miranda declared. "Emissary, please patch me through."

"Done."

"Attention all Cerberus personnel. This is Miranda Lawson. As of this moment the Illusive Man is under arrest. Cerberus will be dismantled within twenty-four hours. Any person who has committed no crime under Citadel law other than being a member of Cerberus has been offered amnesty by the Alliance and the Emissary's Free People. You may approach any ranking officer of those governments and they will extend protection.

"I repeat; Cerberus will be dismantled within twenty-four hours."

Miranda stepped back and the Illusive… Jack Harper, looked up hatefully.

"I gave you everything, Miranda. I made yo-"

"Oh do shut up." Harry groaned. "Just stay put like a good little boy and we'll come and get you. See you in a few hours!" He waved as the transmission cut.

* * *

><p>"What are our chances of getting the Illusive Man?" Jacob asked as the team assembled in the conference room.<p>

"Please, call him Harper." Harry winced. "The man does not deserve any titles."

"Like 'Emissary'?" Jack sneered.

"If you can get the geth and the rest of the people to stop calling me that then be my guest." Harry shrugged. "To answer your question Jacob, I don't know. I do know that as we speak Cronus Station is being shut down by geth programs. Personnel are being given the chance to evacuate via the escape pods but the actual Cerberus fleet is currently under the control of the geth.

"Wrex has deployed the entirety of clan Weyrloc to the region to take the survivors into custody."

"Then we should pick up Harper in there." Garrus nodded.

"Don't underestimate the man." Harry warned. "He started Cerberus during the First Contact war. He is cagey and underhanded and there were areas of the station that the geth couldn't reach."

"You believe he has already escaped." Samara deduced.

"I do. We have other priorities at the moment though." Harry said. "Captain?"

"Thank you Harry.

"Our course for Hagalaz is set and we should arrive within four hours. The attack on Cerberus should provide something of a distraction for the Shadow Broker and his agents.

"We are going to deploy a full team. Be warned that it is going to be close quarters inside. Outside… make sure you don't fall off and stay away from anything that can act like a lightning rod."

"Have developed advanced insulators." Mordin spoke up. "Will only provide protection for most of the team but engineers can use more advanced techniques… deploy more powerful drones."

"Will it improve my cloak?" Kasumi asked hopefully.

"No. Would be best to discharge capacitors before using cloak. Extra energy will likely make you easier to detect."

"Mordin, take Kasumi and anyone else you think these insulators might have a bad effect on and see if you can't fix them. Tali, help him out." Shepard ordered.

"Harry, your advice would also be welcome." Mordin added.

"Erm… I don't actually know anything about this sort of thing. I have ideas and all… but the geth are the ones who make them work."

"Then sit in on their work and give them any ideas that pop up." Shepard instructed.

"Ok."

"The rest of you, check your weapons and armour and prepare for deployment."


	28. Chapter 28

Hagalaz was like a toddlers nightmare.

Thunder shook the skies as lightning struck what ever was available.

The team literally ploughed their way through the Shadow Broker's men as they used singularities to sweep them off their feet and biotic throws to toss them over the side of the ship.

"This is the door that will get us inside!" Liara shouted over the wind and thunder.

"Harry! Get us in!" Shepard ordered.

"Alright boys, what do we know about this door?" Harry asked the geth quietly. It wasn't really necessary to verbalise his communications… he just preferred it.

"That's fine. You can try hacking it. I'm going to attempt a more direct approach." He said as he moved back a few paces.

"Harry? What are you planning?" Shiala asked worriedly as the rest of the team fended off in coming enemies.

"Remind me to show you what I did to the door on my bank vault back on Earth." He grinned.

Harry summoned his biotics and his hands began to vanish behind thick, blue, potent energy. He focused everything into blasting the door off its hinges.

***BANG***

"We're in!" Harry shouted as Shiala just stared at the door in awe.

Once again Harry astounded her. She doubted that the combined biotics of herself and the others could have achieved what Harry did.

"Everybody inside!" Shepard barked.

"Nice one Harry, now we can't block the door." Ashley grumbled.

"Oh ye of little faith." Harry muttered as he cast some charms at the doorway before picking the heavy door itself up and wedging it back in place with more spells.

"There. Any organic who comes near that door will have an intense urge to jump off the side of the ship… it would a take a very strong biotic to resist or a highly disciplined mind.

"I also used a few sticking charms on the door, that should hold off any mechs."

"Harry, Kasumi, scout on ahead. If you encounter any heavy forces then plant some surprises for them and rally back." Shepard ordered.

The pair moved silently through the corridors, occasionally they would come across a group of mercenaries and Harry would slip in behind them, melt the thinnest part of the armour with his sword and just nick their skin with his sword.

The basilisk venom had them dead within seconds.

They reached a large room with a fair amount of screens.

"I know you are there, Harry Potter." A very large figure rumbled from a seat behind a desk of consoles. "Your stealth was enough to pass my guards but here, in this room, I know _everything_."

Harry remained silent and hoped Kasumi did the same. He wanted to call the creature's bluff.

He took the time to examine the large behemoth.

It was huge, larger than a krogan at nearly ten feet tall. It was at least a foot wider than Grunt or Wrex. Its mouth was like a triangular opening.

It had _four_ pairs of eyes.

And each one was currently following Harry.

That made his blood run cold.

"Yes, I can see you. We yahg are the ultimate predators." The Broker stated with a hint of smugness. "We can track our prey anywhere and our biotics are unmatched."

The yahg's hand shot out in the opposite direction towards an invisible Kasumi and released a biotic attack.

Harry was quicker though and summoned the thief to him.

The pair fell to the ground.

"Run back to Shepard. Now!" Harry ordered.

"I can't just leave you!"

"I need help!" Harry snapped. "But that help needs to be prepared. Just tell Shepard that this Edolus all over again."

The Japanese thief scowled but darted off.

Harry stood and de-cloaked. He wasn't sure how this fight could be best won.

Harry drew his pistol and fired two shots.

The yahg chuckled darkly as the projectiles bounced off him. "All those amazing feats have gone to your head Potter." It taunted. "Now you will face a real threat."

It unleashed a powerful biotic throw that ripped the console in front of it apart and sent the debris at Harry.

Harry apparated out of the way and waited. He needed more information. More tactical data.

The yahg was clearly as smart as him as it knew not to bother with a direct biotic attack.

Harry discreetly dropped a biotic dampener at his feet and sent a biotic shockwave through the floor that knocked the yahg back.

Whilst it was distracted he tossed another dampener to the other side of the room.

"I see that you are able to think just as well against an opponent you are evenly matched with." The yahg grunted as it picked itself up. "I thought that you would go down too easily after all those easy battles with Saren and the Reaper."

The yahg threw out a massive singularity and all the debris around Harry began to float around him.

As the yahg charged a warp, Harry apparated again, but this time he went behind the yahg.

Unfortunately for Harry, the resultant explosion of a warp hitting a singularity in a smallish space was enough to knock the yahg back to fall on top of him.

Harry was trapped for a moment, but he used the opportunity to plant another dampener on the Broker's back.

For such a large creature the yahg was exceptionally quick as it rolled over and grabbed Harry around the waist with a massive three fingered hand and tossed him viciously against the far wall.

Harry landed harshly and he knew that his armour had been damaged. The faceplate on his helmet was cracked.

"Harry, stay down!"

Harry didn't really have a choice at the moment as his nervous system had gone into shock and the nanites were working hard to reboot everything.

He watched as Shepard aimed a large missile launcher at the creature and fired.

The yahg planted its feet in a wider stance and activated a stasis field to protect itself. The missile did nothing but cause smoke and debris.

"Maintain fire!" Shepard ordered the team.

As everyone fired their weapons and biotics at the creature, Shepard knelt down next to Harry.

"Status?" He demanded.

"Ninety percent." Harry responded. He looked at the yahg who was still protected by its stasis field. "Send the biotics out of the room, except for the krogans."

"You have a plan?"

"I have a bad idea."

Shepard just nodded and moved to the biotics ordering them out.

None of them were pleased about this but they did as they were told.

Except Jack, Samara had to drag her out.

"Try not to shoot me." Harry said dryly as he slipped away.

Harry moved up behind the Shadow Broker. He knew that the yahg was aware of his position but he was hoping he wouldn't be able to anticipate his goal.

Harry took a deep breath and activated the biotic dampeners around the room and on the yahg.

There was a moment of surprise as the yahg found his stasis field gone… then he screamed as the pain of numerous bullets tore into him.

But he was a yahg and it would take a hell of a lot to bring him down. Shepard's team were little more than a nuisance. Potter was the real threat.

The Shadow Broker spun around with his fist out as he prepared to land a roundhouse punch on the wizard.

It was too late for the Broker as he saw Potter standing there grimly with his sword out and braced.

He was committed to this move and he couldn't fight his own momentum so he just poured all his power into the punch.

He would take Potter out with him.

His fist impaled on the Sword of Gryffindor.

The momentum meant the massive and solid fist hit Harry squarely sending him flying back into the wall, still holding his sword.

The Shadow Broker dropped to his knees as the basilisk venom instantly went to work.

"Well played Potter… well played." He grunted in approval. The Broker collapsed… dead.

"Ash, Mordin, see to Harry. Liara, sort out the communications. The rest of you set up a guard." Shepard ordered.

"Jesus Harry, you need to come up with a better set of plans." Ashley scowled as she pulled his damaged helmet off. There was blood leaking for every orifice in his head.

"Got the job done." Harry grunted.

"Harry, status?" Shepard called over.

"Sixty percent." Harry wheezed. "He knocked a few things loose."

"Define 'a few things'." Ashley glared at him.

"Two ribs, left shoulder and right elbow. Liver, left kidney and three vertebrae."

"Fuck! Skipper, we need a med-evac, now!"

* * *

><p>"Doctor, what is the latest on Harry?" Shepard asked Karin Chakwas as she joined the rest of the ground team in the conference room on the Utah.<p>

"Everything is back where it needs to be and he should be up and making our lives unbearable in an hour or so." She said dryly. "At the moment the geth are just running him through additional tests to be thorough."

"Glad to hear it." Shepard nodded. "Liara, what's the status on the Shadow Broker's ship and network?"

"The ship is secure and intact. The geth are bringing in some of the Liberated and the quarians of Rannoch to help run the systems. We are planning on relocating to a planet somewhere to be determined in the Perseus Veil.

"The network… well, we were fortunate. No one has ever seen the Shadow Broker before. I was easily able to assume his place with a few well placed threats and a voice emulator."

"Are we gonna be facing more of those yak things?" Jack asked.

"Unlikely." Miranda answered. "The yahg are pre-space-flight. They are also quarantined by the Council because they massacred the diplomatic party they sent."

"We should still look into better tactics for fighting the yahg." Garrus said. "We know the Reapers used the rachni and the protheans as slaves before… if they start using the yahg…" He trailed off; everybody could easily follow that train of thought.

"I might know of a solution… but I can't bring it up here." Shiala said with concern. "We are all technically Citadel citizens." She explained."

"I'm not and neither are Grunt and Tank." Tali reminded her.

"We'll discuss it with Harry later." Shiala promised.

"What was the result of the assault on Cerberus?" Miranda asked.

"As expected, Jack Harper managed to escape the net." Shepard sighed. "The good news is that the geth were able to infiltrate the Cerberus network and initiate a change of code words for all projects. This will give the Alliance time to track down their locations and shut them down."

"The Ill- Harper will probably attempt to head for whatever he considers the most important of the projects." Miranda mused. "If he appears in person then he will be able to take control of the project and move it.

"I also know for a fact that there are quite a few projects that are _not_ on the books."

"Well what are they?" Jack demanded.

"I don't know." Miranda admitted. "And to be frank, I'm not sure I want to know."

"We'll leave it in the hands of the Alliance and Emissary's Free People." Shepard declared. "We have our own mission to handle for now. We need to improve our chances against the Collectors. If you have ideas for improvements to weaponry, shields, tactics… hell, if you think you know how to improve our diet… speak up.

"In the meantime we are just kicking our heels until we get a solid lead."

"I might have an idea on how to improve our teamwork." Jacob said slowly. "It is… fairly personal though."

"Suck it up Cerberus!" Jack sneered.

"Jack, I didn't even _consider_ joining Cerberus until a few months ago. I don't know what they did to you but I wasn't involved." Jacob scowled.

"You were willing to sign up though." Ashley reasoned.

"I recruited Jacob myself." Miranda admitted. "I couched what Cerberus did very carefully. He joined what he believed to be a group dedicated to protecting humanity that were being falsely accused of various crimes and that other crimes and incidents were being blown out of proportion."

"So you recruited a sucker." Jack smirked Jacob.

"Enough." Shepard said quietly. "As of the moment this crew assembled in the hanger bay to confront Harper, they became members of the Emissary's Free People. You will respect them as such."

"Whatever."

"Jacob, what is your idea?" Shepard asked.

"I recently received a ping on a beacon from my father's ship, the Hugo Gernsback. It disappeared with all hands on board ten years ago.

"I was hoping we could investigate if we survived the Omega Relay. But if training is what we need, this would be simple mission to work on teamwork and communication. Not to mention the possibility of investigation."

"Alright, we'll mark it on the galaxy map. Once we've got Harry's input we'll determine a schedule. Anyone else?"

"Cerberus might be gone, but my price for joining hasn't." Zaeed said gruffly. "If we're going hunting for the kid's dad we can go deal with my old partner. Plenty of scum to kill."

"Same with me." Kasumi piped up. "Mine is a heist but the level of skill required would be a useful learning experience. Potter is good at stealth but he could use some training from an expert."

"Did not want to mention it. Ferris Fields more important. But old protégé, Maelon. Gone missing on Tuchanka. Was instrumental part of team that modified genophage. No offence." Mordin said respectfully to Tank and Grunt.

"You tried to kill nearly every krogan baby. Why would we take offence at that?" Grunt asked sarcastically.

"Brother." Tank said disapprovingly.

Grunt just… grunted.

"Alright, if you have more suggestions, send them to Miranda. She can arrange a schedule for dealing with these things. We will use these opportunities to improve ourselves and maybe clean up the galaxy a bit."

"Great, we're fuckin' janitors." Jack grumbled.

* * *

><p>When Harry saw the schedule that Miranda had drawn up he couldn't help but joke that she was being positively humanitarian about it.<p>

The search for the Hugo Gernsback was the priority with Maelon coming in second.

Everything else was based on whether it was time sensitive or who annoyed Miranda more… Jack or Zaeed.

Zaeed was gunning for revenge and Jack wanted to visit the location of the facility where she was experimented on and blow it to bits.

Garrus had wanted to go after the turian who had betrayed him and gotten his team killed: Sidonis. He had a lead on him on the Citadel and he wanted blood.

Harry and Shepard had outright refused. They had told him that he was better than that. Instead Harry had liaised with C-Sec and had the man picked up.

"What do you mean he isn't guilty?" Garrus demanded angrily.

"He was tortured into betraying you." Harry said calmly. "The Blue Suns captured him and forced him. He actually tried to confess to the murders to C-Sec… but they couldn't charge him as Omega doesn't fall under their jurisdiction."

"So what? He just gets off?"

"He should do." Harry said. "Morally and legally he is not culpable. But he is suffering from a lot of guilt over what happened. I've sent him back to Omega where he will work for the krogan law enforcement."

"How can you expect me to just accept this, Harry?" Garrus scowled.

Harry gave him a small smile. "Because you are my friend, and I only have good people as my friends." He said as he left the forward battery where Garrus worked on the weapons.

"Bastard." Garrus muttered angrily. He just wasn't sure if he was talking about Harry or Sidonis.

* * *

><p>The Utah and the Normandy were approximately two days out from the Alpha Draconis System and the planet Aeia; the source of the Hugo Gernsback's beacon.<p>

Harry decided to take the time to relax.

He headed into his tent but froze when he heard voices.

Female voices.

Female voices that were not just Tali's.

He frowned as he followed the voices. They were coming from the bathroom, but he was sure Tali was in the engine room, Shiala was with Ashley in the armoury and Liara was with Shepard on the bridge.

He ejected his phoenix wand and burst into the room.

Then he froze.

"Do you mind, Potter?" Miranda Lawson glared at him as she covered her breasts with her hands.

"What. The. Hell?" Harry asked in confusion.

Seated in the large hot tub were women.

Lot's of women.

Lot's of naked women.

Tali, Miranda, Shiala, Ashley, Kelly, Gabby, Goldstein, Liara, Karin, Kasumi… the only person missing seemed to be Jack.

A few were sinking deeper into the water to hide themselves.

"We were bathing." Ashley smirked at him. "Now either strip down and get in or close the door behind you."

"Why are all of you in _my_ tent, in _my_ bath?" He asked… he just didn't get it.

"I saw this beauty when I was in here." Kasumi shrugged.

Harry wished she wouldn't do that again… the woman didn't seem to have much shame and her breasts were perky enough that they had practically leapt out of the water when she did.

"And…?"

"Harry, you have quite a few women on this ship and one bath. I suggested to Tali that we turn it into a Sento."

Harry paused as he accessed the definition.

"But this is a _private_ bath! _My_ private bath!"

"Does that mean I can't use it?" Tali looked up at him with soulful eyes and a pout.

"Which one of you taught her that?" Harry demanded.

"Harry, you have plenty of tents. You can easily set up a separate tent for bathing." Karin suggested.

"Where's the fun in that?" Kasumi grinned. "It won't be the same if we don't annoy him."

"This is so not fair." Harry grumbled as he stomped off.

"I thought you said you got permission from Potter?" Miranda turned to the Japanese thief.

"You thought wrong." She smirked.

* * *

><p>It was a grumpy Harry that slumped down in front of Shepard in the mess hall a few minutes later.<p>

"Don't bother going to the tent for a bit."

"Why?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

"Because the women on the ship have invaded and are staging an occupation of my bath." He said unhappily.

"Just to use the bath?" Shepard asked for clarification.

"Yes… I really don't get it." Harry frowned.

"Some women like baths." Shepard said with a small smirk… then he looked at Harry with narrowed eyes. "How did you find out what they were doing?"

"I heard strange voices in the tent. I followed them and found the entire female population of the ship… including Karin, sitting naked in my bath." Harry scowled.

"Ka- Ah, Doctor Chakwas."

"Yeah."

"So… you saw Ashley naked." He said pointedly.

Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do you really think I spent any amount of time in there before they covered themselves with their hands?

"Well… except Kasumi and Tali. Kasumi seems to lack shame."

"Harry, I know for a fact that you remember everything you see in exceptionally high quality." Shepard said with a forced smile. "I also know that you can recall it at any time. That means-"

"That Tali, Ash and Liara would have informed the other women of that fact." Harry interrupted. "And when you consider that Miranda, Liara and Samara were all there… I'd be a fool if I even think about recalling the image."

Shepard was satisfied with that answer and went back to his food for a few minutes.

"Harry, didn't you say all the women were in your bath? Why is Jack over there then?" Shepard indicated the biotic at the chow line.

"I don't know, she was the only woman missing. Hey! Jack." Harry gestured for Jack to join them.

"What do you want, Potter?" She scowled. Her scowls and glares were a little lighter these days. She wasn't always on edge now that they had completely abandoned Cerberus.

"Just wanted to make sure you are alright. The rest of the women were hogging my bath." Harry shrugged.

"Like I'd wanna join the Pussy Brigade." She scoffed.

"Erm… _aren't_ you a member?" Harry asked.

"You trying to say something?" She said heatedly as she leaned towards him and brandished her knife.

Harry didn't flinch.

He did look down at the synthetic table knife she was holding.

It probably wouldn't cut butter.

He put the thought aside and looked back up at her.

"You are a woman, right?"

"More woman than you can handle." She said proudly.

"Then what is the real reason you haven't joined them? Remember, you can't actually lie to me." He reminded her about all his enhanced geth senses.

"You said I weren't allowed in the tent, 'member?" She said as she began poking at her food.

"True." Harry nodded. "But you haven't accused me of rape in a few weeks." He shrugged. "You can join them if you want. Might be a good team building exercise for you."

"What? Pussy lickin'? Don't do much of that in a fight. Less you mean a chocolate wrestling fight." She mused.

Harry grimaced at her bluntness. "I was referring to communication and building interpersonal relationships."

"You calling me a lesbo?" She asked threateningly.

Harry wanted to pull his hair out.

"Harry, let it go." Shepard chuckled. "Jack, I'm going to have Harry set up a couple of rooms as communal bathrooms. With his magic it won't be a drain on resources. You will be free to use them at _any _time." He said pointedly.

Harry was shocked when Jack blushed.

He ran Shepard's words through his mind again but couldn't find anything in there that would be considered inappropriate.

"I'll finish this… somewhere else." She said hurriedly as she gathered her tray and nearly used a biotic charge to leave the mess.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" Harry demanded. "And how do I do it?"

"Privacy." Shepard instructed.

Harry waved his hand and erected a few wards. He gave Shepard a nod.

"Under no circumstances are you to talk about this with _anyone_ who is not one of your children or who seems to be… naïve when it comes to women… like you are." He said seriously.

Harry nodded.

"Any male with any sense of self-preservation will keep track of a woman's menstrual cycle."

"They will?"

"Research the effects that a woman's period can have on her." Shepard waited a few moments. "Even if a woman _isn't_ a homicidal biotic, they can still get… irritable during that week. Helps to know when to not piss them off.

"Jack is on her period and some women will avoid communal baths and swimming pools when they are."

"Oh. And that embarrassed her?" Harry asked curiously.

"It probably embarrassed her that I was aware of her current state." He corrected. "Just don't mention it and pretend I never mentioned it."

* * *

><p>As a result of whole 'Harry Potter and the Women's Bath' fiasco, he was assigned a team of geth with Gabby and Tali as they renovated the women's bathrooms on the crew deck.<p>

It was only a day's work… but it was torturous for Harry as every female from Jack to Liara decided to come along and inspect his designs and work and to make their own suggestions and critiques.

Harry had finally gotten some peace to work in when he had threatened to go on strike.

He was still very irritable when they landed on Aeia at the site of the crashed Hugo Gernsback.

The ship was nearly shorn in two and was teetering precariously on the edge of a cliff over an ocean. It looked like one strong sneeze would send it over… which said a lot about the planet's weather, which was as close to paradise as you could get.

"Boys, head inside and see what you can salvage." Harry ordered the squad of four geth that had landed in the Stingray with them. "We'll- incoming human. Unarmed, female." Harry said quickly as he moved away from huge derelict.

A woman, maybe in her early to mid thirties, suddenly stood up from behind some barrels a few metres away.

She rushed up to Harry with a worried yet slightly relieved expression.

"You came? From the sky? The leader said someone would come! He delayed for so long, but he still has the power!" She said with awe.

She seemed to be rambling, slightly incoherent.

"Hannah Roeback. Ensign, communications." Harry said as he ran a facial recognition program on her.

"Hannah? That was my name!" She said in surprise. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Some have lost faith. The hunters!" She said as though remembering a threat. "They will have seen your star. They will not-"

"Contact! Eight humans, male, armed!" Harry shouted as he grabbed Hannah and spun her around so his body protected her.

The team immediately came under fire as the men rounded the corner.

The men were quickly put down when Jack got a little overzealous and sent them flying over the edge of the cliff.

"Reminds me of when we first met Harry." Ashley sighed.

"Jack, whilst you were pretty effective, next time, try and take at least one alive so we can get some intel." Shepard tried to be as non-patronising as possible.

"Just ask the girl." Jack shrugged.

"Remember, the girl spoke of the 'hunters'." Samara explained for the younger biotic. "This would indicate that she belongs to a different faction."

"I am not a hunter." The woman said as Harry and Tali helped her up. "The hunters… you killed them… but there will always be more." She said mournfully.

"Can you take us to your people? We can defend you from the hunters." Liara tried to reason with her.

She nodded rapidly, clearly nervous around these new people with weapons and unsure if more hunters were coming.

"Mordin, we're going to need some plant and blood samples." Harry said as he headed over to the salarian. "According to the geth, there was a warning in the ships log that the local plants could cause mental problems if ingested."

Mordin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Would explain female's lack of coherency and primitive mindset. Advise against trying to obtain blood sample from female though. Too scared to cooperate."

"Give me a second." Harry said before he jogged to the edge of the cliff. "_Accio idiots!_" Harry incanted.

"What-"

"Accio is a summoning charm." Shiala explained. She had read a lot of the spell books and was constantly attempting to cast the spells with her biotics. "Idiots… is self-explan-" She stopped and winced as several bodies came soaring up the cliff and crashed into Harry, sending him flying backwards into Tank.

"You forgot to anticipate your enemies movements, Chief." Tank lectured in his usual monotone manner.

"I'll try to remember for the next time." He groaned as the krogan literally picked him up and plopped him back on his feet. "Enough samples, Doc?" Harry asked the salarian.

"Will do for now."

Harry wasn't sure if the Doctor was joking.

"Do we need to stick around here, Mordin?" Shepard asked.

"No. Will leave initial analysis to geth. Will offer personal expertise and opinion on their test results." He answered.

Shepard turned back to Hannah who was still looking like a cornered rabbit. "Hannah, can you take us to your people? We can help them too."

She responded with another series of nervous nods.

"Kasumi, take Jack and give her some tips on stealth. Make sure there aren't any surprises." Shepard ordered.

"Sure Shepard." Kasumi nodded as she led Jack away.

"Do we have an initial report from the Gernsback?" Shepard asked Harry.

"The ship crashed, seems like an accident but I would prefer to keep an open mind at the moment." Harry said. "For some reason the Acting Captain, Ronald Taylor, paused the beacon and prevented it from transmitting. The reason for the delay has been deleted."

"That can't be right. My father was just the First Officer." Jacob frowned.

"I did say 'acting'." Harry pointed out. "Maybe the captain died on impact."

"But that doesn't explain why the beacon was paused. It's been-"

"Ten years." Harry finished. "The beacon was paused for eight."

"You know the drill people. We can stand here all day and guess or we can go and investigate." Shepard said.

"_Shepard, we've reached some sort of compound."_ Kasumi called over the radio. _"All women, no weapons. Might be best if you kept yours holstered."_

"Understood, I'm going to send in Miranda and Ashley first. Watch their backs."

"_Smart move. We'll keep an eye on things."_

"Are you sure you don't want us to accompany them?" Liara asked as they watched Miranda and Ashley move off with Hannah.

"This ship crashed eight years ago. They haven't seen anything but humans ever since. Hannah coped but we could all see she was struggling." Shepard explained.

"Shepard, there are mechs in the area." Harry frowned. "LOKI mechs and a heavy mech. They are outdated though."

"Hostile?" Garrus asked.

"Unknown. All I have is orbital scans from the ships above. I'd have to get in close to one to be able to hack it without causing a self-destruct."

"Follow Ash and if you get a chance, take a look." Shepard ordered.

It was some fifteen minutes later that Ashley radioed back.

"_Shepard, if you can bypass the compound it would be best. Send the rest of our female teammates through."_

"It's that bad?" Shepard asked dreading the answer.

"_Yes."_

"Shit. Ladies, go and help them. Defend the compound. Miranda, signal the Normandy and Utah to send all available female crew members including Dr. Chakwas down.

"I want an assessment on how they react to asari. If necessary I will contact Matriarch Benezia or Aethyta and ask for asari assistance."

"_Copy that, Captain."_ The former Cerberus Operative responded.

"Harry, Kasumi, Jack, begin scouting further ahead. If you can take out localised targets then fine. If not wait for backup. Non-lethal only, remember we don't know who's been eating the plants and whether any of these people are mentally culpable."

Shepard led the team through the jungle and around the compound. They avoided using the Stingray as Shepard didn't want to spook these clearly mentally unstable survivors.

"_Shepard, I've hacked the mechs, it was easy as they are all so old, they won't attack anyone now. They won't even avoid taking fire, they will just continue to walk their predefined patrol."_

"Copy that, Harry. Have any of you come across more humans?"

"_Fuckin' sausage fest."_ Jack snarked. _"Geisha Girl is taking them out nice and gentle like you wanted. OW! What the fuck did you do that for?"_

"_Geisha girl?"_ Came Kasumi's pointed accusation.

"Jack, to be a part of a team means you avoid insulting your teammates." Shepard sighed.

"_Fuck you if you can't take a joke."_ She retorted. There was just a _hint_ of regret in her voice.

"Kasumi, make sure you show Jack how to take them out without killing them."

"_If anyone's interested I believe I have found the reason for this whole mess."_ Harry announced over the radio. _"Oh, and someone might want to disarm Jacob."_

"Hey!"

Jacob suddenly found himself restrained by Grunt from behind as Tank removed his weaponry.

"Wasn't the kid joking?" Zaeed asked curiously.

"Possibly." Garrus shrugged. "But he sounded too serious. We might have to try and disarm Harry as well."

Grunt just laughed. "Good one turian. Disarm the Chief." He chuckled.

The team soon made their way out of the jungle and back on to the path. There were LOKI mechs patrolling and unconscious male bodies everywhere.

It was the other bodies they found that worried them. The dead ones. Some were years old.

"Some kind of warning?" Garrus mused. "That compound is fairly well sealed. Maybe these are the bodies of people trying to get into the compound."

"Or out." Jacob frowned.

"Nah. Those women were out of their minds but they still had enough sense to fear us and the other men." Zaeed shook his head. "That first body is much older than the others. The women would have seen it and turned around."

"_I would agree with Mr. Massani."_ Miranda confirmed. _"These women have formed a primitive community but they seem to lack any will to fight."_

"Additional note: These bodies are all male." Mordin stated.

"_So they were shot for trying to enter the compound?"_ Tali asked.

"Believe it to be much worse. Very few of these bodies have injuries consistent with projectile weaponry. Signs of torture and painful death."

"There is also no evidence of dried blood." Garrus added. "I think they were killed elsewhere and then dumped here."

"This doesn't sound right." Jacob scowled. "My father would never have allowed this to happen."

"There is a reason Harry told us to disarm you." Shepard said. "Let's move on."

The group travelled for a mile before they encountered Kasumi, Jack and Harry. Whilst Jack had her usual scowl in place, it was the dark looks on Kasumi and Harry's faces that worried Shepard.

Harry simply gestured behind him and Shepard led the group through.

What they found was a far cry from what they had seen so far.

Whilst the rest of the survivors had clearly had to scavenge for food and lived in flimsy hand crafted tents, Ronald Taylor had a living area crafted out of salvaged parts of the Gernsback. There was a desk, a bed… and crates and crates of rations.

Ronald was clearly surprised to see them as he stood there in his near perfect clothes. Clothes that clearly hadn't seen a minute of physical labour in ten years.

"My god! H-How did you get here?" He stammered.

"Teamwork." Harry snarked.

"Excuse me?" Ronald asked in confusion at the hostility. "It doesn't matter. I'll be sure to get you something nice when we get back to Alliance space. I've got to have some back pay coming."

"What about your crew, Acting Captain?" Jacob was clearly holding tightly to his disgust.

"Total loss." Ronald said dismissively. "The toxic food turned them wild. They propped me up here in some kind of ritual behaviour. Waiting for a chance to signal has been hell."

"That's the best you can do?" Jacob's disgust began to seep through.

"You let all your people talk back to you like that… uh… whoever you are?"

"Shepard. Spectre Captain John Shepard. I believe you are acquainted with Mr. Taylor." Shepard's face and voice were hard but calm.

Ronald turned to Jacob and the two men approached each other, Jacob looked ready to swing a punch and Ronald was torn between shock and curiosity.

"Taylor? Jacob? No, not Jacob."

"Why not me?" Jacob demanded. "Would ten years of this look better to anyone else?"

"You have to understand." Ronald tried to reason. "This isn't me. The realities of command… they change you. I wasn't ready for that.

"I had made sure you were taught right. Before I left. I had hoped to leave it at that." He sighed.

"So why eight years?" Garrus asked. "Why did _you_ pause the beacon? You didn't even _try_ to call for help?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked with disdain as he looked at Ronald. "He was living out his fantasy. He's as disgusting as the Hegemony."

"That's not-"

"Oh shut up." Harry sneered at the man. "The evidence is all around us." He gestured to the immediate area. "You have a _double_ bed. You have a desk. A computer. You have enough crates of rations to last you fifty years.

"I'd bet he and a few of the other men got together and agreed to hide the fact that they had all these rations from the women along with the fact that the plants were dangerous.

"Then, when the men got territorial over the women, they came to blows and Ronnie here managed to come out on top."

"Harry, make sure." Shepard ordered quietly.

Harry had a look of distaste as he cast a _Petrificus_ on Ronald Taylor. He had absolutely no desire to look through the man's mind.

"What's he doing?" Jack asked.

"He's going through the man's memories. He's done it before. It's the reason we didn't kill Matriarch Benezia's commandos when we found them on Noveria." Garrus explained. "Harry was able to see their memories and tell that they were being controlled."

"Could we just go back to the part where Harry can read minds?" Kasumi asked worriedly.

"'Can' read minds. Not 'will'. Shepard warned.

"The Emissary's Free People will take this monster into custody." Harry said suddenly. "We will hold him on behalf of the Alliance until they are ready to go to trial."

Shepard closed his eyes. Harry was being very cold. He must have seen some really bad stuff. "I'm sorry Harry.

"Tank, Grunt, take the prisoner, Ronald Taylor, back to the Normandy. Have him placed under guard by Alliance personnel then return to the Utah.

"Garrus, take the Normandy and meet up with the nearest geth ship and transfer him over. The rest of you collect the male bodies and make sure they are disarmed and restrained.

"Harry and I are going back to the Utah to contact Matriarch Benezia for asari aid."

* * *

><p>Benezia had a real soft spot for Harry. She would actually smile when he was around. She barely did that around Liara.<p>

As a result, she had an asari cruiser en route within an hour.

Harry had called Wrex and asked for a ship of krogan to handle the men. After a decade of trying to control women he didn't think asari were the best choice for handling the human men.

It meant they had to stay in orbit and on the planet for two days but it was worth it as Karin had those on the team without the experience helping her as assistants so they could learn basic first aid.

Jacob had been a little peeved with Miranda when she revealed that she was the source of the tip regarding the beacon. Her intentions were good but… he still felt a little manipulated.

The crew was currently en route to Tuchanka to find Mordin's apprentice.

An incident on the Normandy suggested there might be more reasons for heading to the krogan home world.

"A completely crushed rib cage, two broken arms, one broken leg and a brain haemorrhage. Not to mention the punctured lung and aorta.

"Doctor Chakwas had to spend six hours putting Ronald Taylor back together again. You have an explanation for this?" Shepard demanded of the two krogans as they stood in the conference room of the Utah.

"No!" Grunt said angrily as he stomped his foot.

"Easy." Harry said warningly.

Grunt took a breath. "I have energy, rage, thoughts… but I do not know what to do with them." Grunt tried to explain. "The human was disgusting. He tried to say that we krogan would understand. That we would rape our females!"

"Females are honoured." Tank said firmly. "They have their own clan. It is the female that chooses the male. The male must prove himself worthy."

"Are you having the same issues, Tank?" Harry asked. "You are usually the voice of reason for your brother. But according to Garrus, he found you holding Ronald down and squeezing his arms till they broke."

"My thoughts became clouded. I lost myself to the rage within." Tank admitted calmly.

"Could it be something to do with Okeer's programming and imprints?" Shepard asked Harry.

"No, something far more devastating." He said seriously. "Puberty."


	29. Chapter 29

"Chief!"

"Overlord!"

"Ha! It's about time you got your scrawny hide back here Runt." Wrex grinned as he marched up to Harry.

***THUD***

The team winced as the two males smashed their foreheads together.

"It's like some frat boy greeting." Ashley grimaced.

"At least they haven't pulled out a ruler." Miranda sighed.

"A ruler?"

"I'll explain later Tali." Kasumi chuckled.

"So, how's the family?" Harry grinned.

"Shut up Runt." Wrex scowled. "I spend half my time in negotiations with the female clans trying to convince them that we can't handle another wave of births yet.

"If we didn't have the geth helping to watch them then a third of my men would have staged a coup… against the females."

"Interesting. Cultural dynamics have changed." Mordin mused. "Previously, krogan would insist on producing as many offspring as possible."

"It's been a thousand years since your kind began committing its baby murders." Wrex looked at him flatly. "Most of my men haven't seen a baby krogan since they were hatched. They have no idea how to care for them and the females are the same."

"Although have regrets over part in genophage, am pleased that krogan have more… 'enlightened' attitude to pro-creation." Mordin said as respectfully as he could.

Wrex looked at him shrewdly for moment before turning to Harry. "Gonna take him to see his land?"

"Definitely." Harry said seriously. "We need to make sure that the genophage is firmly killed off."

"I do not understand. I have purchased no land on Tuchanka."

"That's because the krogan have gifted it to you." Harry said expressionlessly.

"Why don't we go and visit now?" Wrex suggested.

"Must find Maelon. Have res-"

"We found your boy hours ago." Wrex assured him. "Fool of a salarian was actually experimenting on volunteer krogan to try and cure the genophage."

"Experimenting!" Mordin said in horror.

"That's right. We took him prisoner and put him to work. If you weren't so valuable to Shepard I'd have you arrested too."

"If Maelon was experimenting on live subjects… can not condone. Will not argue punishment."

"We'll go see your land first, then we can go see your boy."

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Mount Mordin." Wrex said solemnly.<p>

Mordin Solus was currently on his knees. An expression of horror on his face. If salarians could cry… he would have been bawling.

Mount Mordin was at least three hundred feet high and six hundred feet in diameter.

It was made completely of the remains of dead and decaying foetuses.

"There are more than six thousand female krogans on Tuchanka." Harry said quietly. "It has been nearly five years since you modified the genophage to continue this… vile crime. Each of these babies is named 'Mordin'.

"I believe you can do the math to figure out how many there are."

Mordin was in shock. His brain on autopilot and the only reason he was still breathing and hadn't collapsed.

"Six thousand females capable of producing a thousand eggs a year. Six hundred thousand times five. Three million." He rattled off in a harsh whisper.

"You have made an error in your math." Harry commented. "Or possibly your assumptions.

"A female can produce up to a thousand fertile eggs in a year, yes. If conditions are normal. But, since the genophage, things have not been normal and like all life, they tried to adapt. They mated more frequently, they began to produce more eggs at a time. All reasons that you believed they were adapting to the genophage.

"Recalculate based a female producing four thousand eggs a year." Harry instructed in his calm quiet manner.

"My god! One hundred and twenty million babies!" Miranda gasped.

"Were I not under oath to Shepard, I would be forced to slay you where you stand, Doctor." Samara said solemnly.

"Fuck… I've done some sick shit… but babies?" Jack muttered.

"Of course this is quite small compared to Mount Turian and Mount Salarian." Harry shrugged sadly.

"Centuries of burying our offspring before they could breathe, and some even dying mere seconds after hatching… and the galaxy wonders why we are so violent." Wrex scoffed. "When I was born I had more than six hundred brothers and over three hundred sisters.

"Before the geth, we were lucky if one egg would hatch."

There was a moment's silence.

"Before the geth?" Miranda asked curiously.

"Chief Harry of Clan Potter has defeated the genophage."

"Clan Potter?" Harry glared at the large krogan.

"Your Overlord has spoken… Runt." Wrex smirked at him.

"Wrex, how can you smile here?" Tali asked, tears streaming down her cheeks. Shiala, Liara and Kasumi were in similar states as the three women held each other.

Wrex smiled wider. "Because we are krogan. We are hardy. We live for the victory and we relish the fight! Come girl, I'll show you the reality of a krogan victory."

* * *

><p>"I hope you don't intend to show her how you relish the krogan fight." Harry said dryly as he stood next to Wrex.<p>

They were standing in large open area, perhaps a square mile, filled with over a thousand krogan children of varying stages of development from babies on all fours to toddlers.

Krogan developed much faster than most species and it was likely that these children would be half the size of an adult within a year. After that they would slow in growth.

Tali was gushing over the babies with the rest of the team.

Even Zaeed was enjoying a bit of rough housing with the larger krogan children.

"So… what do you think of the team?" Harry asked.

"If Shepard wasn't leading them then the galaxy would be doomed." He said flatly. "Considering you are on the team… there is a good chance of that happening anyway."

"Thanks." Harry said sarcastically.

"Runt, in the short year that I've known you I have seen you do the impossible over and over again. You made allies of the geth. You defeated a Reaper. You discovered the secrets of the Protheans. You cured the genophage.

"I know the galaxy will survive the Reapers because of you… I'm just not sure the galaxy will survive you."

"It's not like I'm going to declare war on them!" Harry objected.

Wrex laughed loudly and slapped Harry hard on the back. "You already have! The fools just haven't noticed."

"I have not!"

"Let's see, you control Bataria, Rannoch and the geth. You rule two of the largest krogan clans and have me as an ally and friend. That makes you incredibly dangerous to the Council.

"But when they discover that you have cured the genophage? That you have all the knowledge of the Reapers and the races they harvested?

"The asari, turian and human councillors might be your allies, but the salarian will easily convince the turians that you are a threat. It won't be long before the asari and humans give into their fear."

"You mean I'm going to be stuck fighting a war for the rest of my life?" Harry asked worriedly.

"You don't fight wars conventionally, Runt." Wrex snorted. "You defeated the Hegemony single handedly. Same with Sovereign and Saren.

"I know you. You'll have defeated the fools before they even realise they were in a fight. We might consider you a krogan, but it isn't because of how you wage war."

"Ah… shit." Harry swore, his face remained neutral.

"Cheer up, Runt." Wrex grinned. "We won't let you fight alone."

"It's not that." Harry shook his head. "Tali has a fairly terrifying look in her eyes."

Wrex frowned and looked at the young quarian.

Tali was standing with a female krogan and looking longingly at the baby in her arms.

"Sounds like justice to me." Wrex smirked.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Mordin was having an interesting reunion with his old apprentice.<p>

"Professor!" Maelon said in shock. He then scowled and moved to stand determinedly in front of the baby krogan and mother in his examination room with a scalpel in hand.

"I won't let you hurt them!" He declared.

Mordin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He then calmly looked to either side at the two large krogan standing guard over him. "Pleased to hear it. Though disappointed that you believe I could be so impulsive."

"I know you Professor. You're mind is probably trying to determine how the krogan are cured and how to stop it." Maelon refused to back down.

"Already know how. Have determined several possible counter-measures. None permanent." Mordin stepped forward with a frown on his face as he quickly knocked the scalpel out of the younger salarian's hand. "Now, let us talk about your experiments."

* * *

><p>Whilst Mordin was instructing his apprentice on the ethics of experimentation on live subjects, Wrex was holding counsel with his Shaman and Harry over the two new krogans on Shepard's team.<p>

"You have taught them well, Chief Harry." The Shaman said in approval as he stood to the left of Wrex's throne. Harry stood on the right.

The throne room had been repaired. It was something that the geth had managed to figure out on their own, that Wrex would need to have a place to meet visiting dignitaries that didn't make them look like a defeated people.

"Thank you Shaman. I admit that I have instilled some of my own opinions on victory in them." Harry demurred.

"Bah!" The Shaman said dismissively. "I am over a thousand years old. I fought in the Rachni Wars. My father was alive before the nuclear winter. We are pale shadows of our true selves."

"The geth have uncovered ancient ruins." Wrex nodded. "We had art once. We had a true culture."

"And with the help of our allies we will have the chance to build a new culture." The Shaman declared. "But for now, we must focus on these two. Whilst they weren't hatched like a normal krogan, Chief Harry has made sure that they have lived like krogan.

"They look like krogan, smell like krogan. I see no reason to deny them the chance to undertake the Rite."

"I trust the wisdom of Chief Potter and the Shaman." Wrex declared. "Grunt, Tank, you will travel to the arena and under go the Rite of Passage to see if you are worthy of being called 'true krogan'.

"Before you go you must select the members of your Krantt."

"Chief Harry." Grunt said immediately.

"I commend your choice." The Shaman smirked. "But I advise against it. Chief Harry's power is well known. Your victory would be in question as some would see you as hiding behind his power."

Grunt was clearly unhappy with that but couldn't argue with the logic.

Besides, taking Harry to the Rite would be the very definition of 'overkill'.

"Shepard, Vakarian and Williams." Tank said in his calm and methodical manner. "I propose that we not be judged on if we can survive the thresher maw but on how quickly we kill it."

Wrex and the Shaman shared a look of surprised amusement.

Harry was just snickering.

"And we stand as Krantt for each other." Tank added.

"You want not only two humans to be considered krogan but a _turian_ also?" The Shaman asked in shock.

"They are Krantt to Chief Potter. They have the heart of a krogan and have survived worse than threshers."

"My brother is right." Grunt nodded as he pounded his fist into the palm of his hand. "They fight _like_ krogan and they fight _for_ krogan."

"I can't accept a wom-"

"It is a time for new traditions to go with our new culture." Wrex interrupted the Shaman. "I will vouch for the woman."

"As will I." Harry added. "But do the three of you agree to join the Krantt of Grunt and Tank?" He asked. "To submit to their leadership in this matter as they have submitted to yours?"

"They've been taught well and fought and lived good lives so far. I'll be their Krantt." Shepard nodded.

Garrus and Williams both nodded firmly.

This would be a major event. A turian being invited to be a part of a Krantt. Turians in general were persona non grata on Tuchanka. Garrus was only welcomed because Wrex had ordered it.

Shepard was exceptionally happy with Ashley's inclusion and her own personal willingness. It just went to show how much she had grown from the slightly naïve and prejudiced human female she had been.

* * *

><p>Harry was with Wrex and the rest of the team in the arena where he had defeated Guld. The stands were filled with krogan who where looking forward to seeing how this would play out.<p>

The Rite was taking place elsewhere but was being transmitted to large screens in the arena.

"How long do you think it will take them to finish?" Wrex asked Harry as they watched the shuttle drop off the five warriors.

"Depends on how long it takes for each wave to show up. They won't waste time… well… Grunt can still get a little… enthusiastic."

Wrex looked thoughtful. "Why is Tank such a calm creature. He is almost like a geth."

"Because Okeer stopped his imprints early." Harry scowled. "The bastard decided that Tank was imperfect as soon as the battle training was complete. He didn't bother giving him additional education. As a result he is having to learn about emotions."

The warriors… the Krantt, had performed a quick survey of the battle area and where positioning themselves in a defensive formation.

Garrus hit the keystone to begin the first wave: Varren.

"At this point the team is probably feeling insulted." Harry laughed.

They watched as the Krantt easily mowed down the dog type creatures.

"There isn't even an alpha varren." Tali scoffed from Harry's side as she recalled the one on Feros.

"Ash took that down with a single shot. It wouldn't fair any better now." Harry shook his head.

The wave of varren finally ended.

"What is Grunt doing?" Tali asked as she watch the krogan drag the varren bodies around.

"He is fortifying his position." Harry smiled proudly. "He is using the bodies to create cover."

"Smart. Your teachings?" Wrex asked.

"No. This one is all Grunt."

Again, Garrus hit the keystone.

This time they seemed to have a different strategy. The two krogan had clearly studied the Rite and knew to expect klixen brought in by Harvesters.

Klixen were like huge, Rachni sized, red insects, almost resembling the Rachni. Instead of acid they spewed liquid fire. They also had more of a crab or lobster leaning.

Harvesters reminded Harry of dragons. Long necked, winged creatures that were the third of the size of a thresher maw. They were known to carry kilxen around.

Ash had taken a defensive position to guard the group whilst Shepard and Garrus where standing at the front with sniper rifles ready.

As the harvesters approached Grunt and Tank threw grenades into the air at them which Garrus and Shepard detonated with their sniper rifles.

"Impressive." Wrex nodded in approval as they watched the harvesters and klixen drop harshly to ground. Grunt and Tank immediately ran to the fallen creatures with their shotguns and finished the injured predators off.

"Those two are going to be invaluable when it comes to facing the Reapers." Harry nodded. "They learn quickly and can strategise and adapt to anything."

"It usually takes killing a thresher to gain prestige in the clans. Those five have already achieved it." Wrex said as he indicated the impressed murmurings of the watching krogans. "No one has ever taken out a harvester during the Rite."

"I am really curious about how they intend to take on the thresher maw." Harry grinned eagerly.

"You didn't give them any tips of hints?" Wrex asked curiously.

"I just told them what each wave consisted of. I've never seen Grunt so disappointed." He laughed. "He asked if he would be allowed to take the Rite twice."

"Is that why he was so depressed on the way here?" Tali asked in surprise.

"He actually came and asked me if we could make a side trip to Edolus or Akuze." Harry snorted. "Merlin knows what would have happened if he'd asked Shepard."

"Why are they cutting the harvesters?" Wrex wondered. Most of the spectators could be heard muttering the same thing.

"Armour." Harry said proudly. "Those boys are impressive."

"Armour?" Tali asked.

"They know the thresher maw comes next." Harry explained. "They are going to need protection from the acid unless they want to spend most of their time running from cover to cover."

They watched as the krogan skinned four harvesters. A very reluctant and disgusted Ashley accepted one, she wore it like cloak as she knelt on one knee with her rifle ready.

Another was passed to Garrus and Shepard who were crouched behind the wall of varren and kilxen bodies that had been erected. The skin was placed over the wall with enough hanging down in front of them so they could easily pull it over their heads.

The final skins were held loosely in the off hands of the krogan who held a grenade in the other.

Tank nodded to Garrus who activated the keystone that set off the summoning gong before he rushed back to position with Shepard, sniper rifle at the ready.

The ground rumbled and dirt spewed into the air as the thresher maw approached and burst from the ground.

Tank and Grunt tossed their grenades hard at the maw.

Unfortunately the thresher saw the krogan and spat acid at them.

Tank jumped in front of Grunt with his skin raised and took the brunt of the acid.

Two successive explosions went off in front of the maw's face and it screamed in pain.

Tank tossed his quickly dissolving skin and Grunt began charging forward with his skin raised. Tank was right behind him in his brother's shadow.

Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were firing wildly at the head of the maw as the krogans continued to charge.

"Why aren't they drawing their weapons?" Tali asked worriedly.

"Oh Merlin." Harry groaned.

"Seems like they are intent on emulating Chief Potter." Wrex said dryly.

"But Harry had a sword! Oh." Tali was impressed by what was happening.

The krogan, being within arms length of the maw's body, had ditched the last skin and had activated their omni-blades.

The flash-forged silicon-carbide blades began slicing easily through the hide as though they were the acid imbued blade of Gryffindor. The edge of the omni-blades were only an atom thick. It required a kinetic barrier to stop them.

Working together the two brothers managed to slice the maw in half so that it lay thrashing on the floor as it died helplessly and painfully.

Grunt jumped onto its back and ran to the head where he ended its misery by sending his blade through creature's brain.

It slumped… dead.

There was silence in the arena as the krogan witnessed a thresher maw killed in less than thirty seconds.

Only Harry had done it faster and it had cost him his hand.

"This is how the krogan should fight!" Wrex declared loudly to the whole arena. On the screen it was clear that his words were being broadcast to everyone as the team in the arena turned to the sound. "With tactics and strategy, with teamwork, we must fight as one! We must fight fearlessly!

"When the Reapers come we will be on the front lines and we will show the universe how to win." He pointed at the large screens. "And that is how we shall do it.

"Bring the krogans and their Krantt to the arena."

* * *

><p>Grunt and Tank stood proudly in front of Harry, the Shaman and Wrex in the middle of the arena for all to see. Behind them were Shepard, Ashley and Garrus.<p>

"You have passed the Rite of Passage, earning the honour of clan and name." The Shaman declared. "Many survive, but it has been years since a thresher maw fell! _None_ have ever achieved it so quickly. Your names shall live in glory."

Tank and Grunt, moved to kneel on both knees. Harry gave the other a three a quick nod and they followed suit.

"Grunt, Tank, Shepard, Vakarian and Williams, you are Potter now. You may own property, join the army and apply to serve under a Battlemaster."

"Chief Potter is our Battlemaster." Grunt said with reverence. "In his absence we will follow Shepard."

"Understood. Congratulations, accept these tokens from Fortak. His weapons are the finest we have.

"May your foes be strong enough to keep you sharp."

The assembled krogan broke into cheers and the brothers lapped it up like a victorious krogan should.

Wrex stepped forward and the crowd quietened.

"It seems that the Rite was not enough of a challenge for these two." He eyed them carefully. "According to Chief Harry, they were upset that they could only face one thresher maw.

"Whilst they are here, I am sending them to deal with the Blood Pack and their vorcha scum. Anyone who wants to join them will follow their lead.

"You will leave at sunrise."

Grunt roared with pleasure. The crowd answered in kind.

* * *

><p>The following day Grunt and Tank led two thousand eager krogans into the wastelands to deal with the Blood Pack.<p>

The sound of their thundering footsteps could still be heard half an hour after they had vanished from sight.

"And _that_ is why the krogan are feared." Garrus quipped.

"You think that's bad?" Wrex asked with a worried look. "The Blood pack has barely three hundred members. Most of them are vorcha. There won't be enough targets for them all."

"It is a good job you forbid Harry and Shepard from going then." Tali smirked up at her pouting fiancé.

"Where is Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"Talking to Thane. He didn't get a chance to greet him properly so he wanted to make sure everything is alright." Harry explained.

"What are your plans after this?" Wrex asked.

"A tactical mission for Zaeed." Harry answered. "He was one of the co-founders of the Blue Suns. His partner is the one who gave him those scars and left him for dead because Zaeed refused to deal with slavers and hire batarians. Could be a fairly… explosive mission."

Tali scowled and slapped him as Garrus groaned.

"The Blue Suns are running a refinery." Ashley explained.

* * *

><p>"Change in plans people." Shepard declared as the team assembled in the conference room.<p>

As per Wrex's prediction, Grunt and Tank were fairly disappointed with the Blood Pack.

"Zaeed, sorry, but we've got a lead that is time sensitive and we can't pass up."

"This better be good." The old merc grumbled.

"We have received a report of a turian distress signal. They claim to have suffered major damage but managed to disable a Collector cruiser."

"I haven't heard anything about turian fleets engaged in battle." Garrus frowned.

"Because the turian signal is fake." Miranda explained. "The Collectors have set a trap, the question is: Are we prepared to walk into it?"

"What are the benefits of engaging this cruiser?" Samara asked. "My understanding is that Harry has already gathered the data from another cruiser."

"Yes, and there was so much data that we are still going through it." Harry nodded. "The problem with the way I took the data is that there is no way to search through it. We have to go through it bit by bit and catalogue and index it ourselves. And no Tali, that was _not_ a programming joke." He told his fiancée before she could ask again.

"_If Harry can interface with the data on the Collector ship then he can use the ship's onboard operating system to search for specific information._

"_Or he can download the data with the index this time."_

There was a hint of dry wit in EDI's voice.

"Watch it young lady." Harry glared at the glowing ball of light.

"What's the plan Skipper?" Ashley asked seriously.

"One team will make a stealth insertion onto the ship. They will head to the Command Centre and begin the download. A second team will make a slightly less stealthy insertion via the Stingray. They will head through the ship and look for a console that will grant as much access as possible."

"Harry is on stealth?" Shiala asked.

"With Kasumi and Thane." Shepard nodded.

"If you are all using the Stingray, how are we supposed to get on board?" Kasumi asked.

* * *

><p>"<em>I hate you Harry!"<em>

"_Love you too Kasumi!"_ Harry laughed happily.

"_This is a most serene experience. Once one forgets about the complete absence of control and simply immerses themselves in the experience… it must be like floating in the egg." _Thane said contentedly.

The trio of stealthy infiltrators had been lightly fired out of the Dog Star. They were currently floating on course towards the Collector Ship.

As they weren't planning on making an atmospheric re-entry, they didn't need to worry about extra shielding.

"_I like the control."_ Kasumi scowled at the drell.

"_Would you relax, we have another ten minutes of this before we reach the ship."_ Harry reminded her. _"Besides, I consider this payback for invading my bathroom."_

"_I let you see my breasts!"_ She argued.

"_I get to see my fiancée's breasts everyday. I get to play with my fiancée's breasts."_

"_Should I turn my radio off?"_ Thane asked. If he could have, he would have blushed.

The other two just ignored him.

"_That is not the same. My breasts are forbidden fruit."_ She said haughtily. _"Besides, as gorgeous as Tali's breasts are mine are a different size and colour… and they come attached to a different woman. It is completely different."_

"_If I wanted to see all sorts of different breasts I would ask Joker to give me a list of extranet sites."_ Harry scoffed.

"_That is nowhere near close!"_ She nearly screeched. _"You can't get within millimetres of a picture's breasts and feel the heat coming from them._

"_You can't smell that sweet smell of a woman's musk as she longs for you._

"_You can't watch as they rise and fall with every breath she takes._

"_And there is absolutely _no_ chance that a picture will give in and say 'touch me, take me'."_ She said huskily.

"_My mute button appears to be non-functional."_ Thane was beginning to panic.

"_Kasumi… I own the strip club on the Citadel."_

"_Oh."_

"_So, what else you got?"_

Kasumi growled as she could hear the triumphant smugness in Harry's voice.

"_Thank Kalahira. They've stopped."_ Thane muttered.

"_At least my breasts have only been seen by one other man."_ She muttered sullenly.

"_Why have you forsaken me goddess?!"_

* * *

><p>Whilst the stealth team was drifting slowly through space, the diversion team was already landing in the Stingray.<p>

Grunt and Tank were first to disembark as they took up a defensive position to check for targets.

"Alright, lets find that console." Shepard ordered.

The team moved swiftly through the dark, semi-organic corridors. Ashley and Shiala had the lead as they scouted ahead while Grunt and Tank were only ever a few seconds behind in case they encountered something worth killing.

They eventually came across a pile of discarded, mutilated and decaying human bodies.

"Shit, Shepard, these must be from one of the earlier hit colonies." Ashley swore as she carefully poked around the pile.

"What if the colonists are still on board? In stasis like back on Horizon?" Jacob asked.

"_If_ that is the case then this just became a rescue mission." Shepard said grimly. "But we don't change tactics until we know for sure."

The team moved on and after a short while they came across a workstation attached to a pod.

"Tali, get to it." Shepard ordered.

"Is that a Collector?" Garrus asked curiously as he peered over into the pod. "Why were they experimenting on their own people?"

"I doubt they were, exactly." Shiala answered. "Remember that the Collectors are former protheans who are fully enslaved by the Reapers. It was probably the Reapers who were experimenting through the Collectors."

"So sad that such a once noble race has fallen so far." Samara said solemnly.

"That would depend on your definition of 'noble'." Garrus mused. "According to Harry, the protheans were conquerors and dictators. All races served or joined them. If you didn't… well… there wasn't _really_ a choice."

"Regrettably, I have found that many of my previous findings match up with Harry's data." Liara admitted. "I spent fifty years researching what I thought were the pioneers of civilisation… only to find that they were as heartless as the Reapers."

"Shepard, this console doesn't connect into the main ship's systems." Tali reported. "It is a standalone medical diagnostic system."

"Can you download the OS? It might give us a baseline to work with." Miranda asked.

"I can download the data but I don't know if I can access the code with the time we have."

"Could locate key components. Remove them for reassembly elsewhere." Mordin suggested.

"Do it. Professor, Miranda, help her out."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile the stealth team were just landing on the ship.<p>

"_Wait a minute! If you are so picky about who sees your breasts, why didn't you cover them up in the bath when I walked in?"_

* * *

><p>Back where people were actually working, the team had moved on.<p>

"_Shepard, I compared the EM profile against the one recorded by the Stingray at the destruction of the Normandy. They are an exact match."_

"So this is what? A reunion?" Jack quipped.

"Or their chance to finish the job." Miranda warned.

"Or a chance for payback." Ashley snarled as she glared at the ship around her.

"As long as I don't have to spend another year being rebuilt." Shepard shuddered.

"_According to the geth medical records; should you require 'rebuilding', then provided your brain survives it should take no more than a month."_ EDI informed them.

"Thanks EDI." He said a little sarcastically.

"I guess death really _is_ just a vacation for some people." Zaeed chuckled.

"That would explain why Harry keeps trying to get himself killed." Ashley muttered.

The team exited the corridors into a massive chamber that was hundreds of metres tall and thousands of metres long. The walls were lined with empty pods, unlike the one on Horizon, which held twelve million colonists.

"This ship must have already delivered the colonists before coming back through the relay." Miranda reasoned.

"Which means there are several million human colonists who are enduring an unknown fate." Jacob said darkly.

"I doubt they were inviting them for tea and biscuits." Zaeed scowled. "Personally, I'm hoping they are already dead."

"And what if we could save them?" Samara argued.

"You saw those bodies back there." He reasoned. "Would _you_ want to live to suffer that?"

"Shepard, there's a console down here." Shiala called back.

The team quickly took up defensive positions as Shepard, took Tali and Mordin to the console on a platform at the bottom of a short cliff.

The whole set up screamed 'ambush'.

"EDI? I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector Ship. We might be a little busy to help."

"_Understood Shepard. I will work as fast as I can."_

The team maintained watch until several large cylinders around the platform began to activate a mechanical mechanism… then it all stopped and went deadly quiet.

"EDI, what was that?" Miranda asked.

"_A power surge was initiated from the Collector Ship. I believe the trap is about to be sprung."_ She responded with intrigue.

That was when the platform began to rise up off the ground, hovering in the air.

"Everybody off!" Shepard barked as he physically tossed an indignant Tali to Shiala before turning to Mordin who was already off.

"I wasn't finished." Tali glared at him.

"Tali, it isn't a good idea to fight the enemy on their terms." Garrus chided lightly. "We can find another console."

"_I am having trouble maintaining a connection, but I am still connected."_ EDI informed them. _"I will continue the search for as long as I can."_

"Incoming!" Zaeed shouted as flying Collectors crested the cliff.

The snipers immediately began firing into the swarm.

"Grenades!" Grunt roared as he and Tank tossed two explosives into the Collector ranks.

Garrus showed his skill by managing to detonate both grenades with his rifle.

"We need to find a better place to defend from!" Miranda called to Shepard over the weapon's fire.

"We are retreating people!" Shepard shouted.

"This is disgusting." Grunt grumbled.

"Just kill as many as you can on the way out Big Guy!" Jack retorted.

"Jacob, Zaeed and Jack, keep our exit clear. Tank, Grunt, watch our backs and like the lady said, kill as many as you can." Shepard ordered.

It was previously decided that they were to make their 'retreat' as slowly and as destructively as possible.

* * *

><p>In the control room the three stealthiest team members were sitting in front of the Collector General's console and hiding whilst Harry discreetly attempted to hack the Collector Ship.<p>

They had managed to stay hidden for two minutes.

"Ah… bugger. Kasumi, stand up and flash him your tits. If they're that good it might buy us a few more seconds." Harry said loudly as he drew his sword.

"_**THE ANOMALY. YOU WILL BE ABSORBED AND STUDIED."**_ The Collector General's voice was booming all around them.

"Maybe later." Harry said as he quickly stood and jammed his sword into the Collector's face.

He turned to Kasumi. "So… not all they're hyped up to be?" He asked with mock consolation.

If looks could kill…

Both of them would be two fresh notches on Thane's blade.

* * *

><p>"Shepard-"<p>

"Stay _in_ formation, Grunt." Shepard said for perhaps the fourth time in a minute.

The eager krogan was miserable having to keep up the ploy of staying in a holding pattern with the swarms of Collectors.

"Another Collector is being possessed!" Tali shouted.

"_**I AM THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTRUCTION! THE METHOD OF YOUR EXECUTION! I WILL PLUCK YOUR WINGS FROM YOUR BACK!"**_

"That's new." Tank muttered.

"_**NEW RULES BOYS: RAISE THE BLACK FLAG!"**_

That was the code they had been waiting for. The phrase that said Harry was in control of the ship.

It had been agreed by the team that the Collectors and Reapers where irredeemable. They would take no prisoners, not even for the purpose of gaining intelligence.

The Black Flag, in relation to the old tales of pirates and the Jolly Roger, was the signal that they would stop trying to survive and fight for a complete victory.

It was like an angel's song to the two krogan as they immediately charged into the swarm.

"Snipers, watch their backs!" Shepard began ordering the team around. "Zaeed, Jack and Samara, follow them in. Jacob, Shiala and Miranda, cover the snipers.

"The rest are with me!"

"_**HO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!"**_ The booming voice of the possessed Collector sounded. _**"I'M HAVING FUN. YOU ARE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS I CAN."**_

Hearing the sound of the Collector seeming to have an indignant conversation with an unseen being was… slightly off putting.

"_**MERLIN THANE! WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO SWEAR LIKE THAT?"**_

Now the team was worried. Thane seemed like the sort of person that had near perfect control of their emotions.

They had clearly underestimated Harry.

"_**IT'S NOT MY FAULT! SHE'S THE ONE FLAUNTING HER BREASTS AND CLAIMING THEY ARE BETTER THAN PICTURES AND ALL THAT."**_

"Somebody get a bead on Tali." Miranda scowled. "Make sure she doesn't get distracted." She ordered the snipers.

"Don't worry. Tali is well used to Harry." Ashley laughed. She fired a shot but missed. Her follow up shot didn't. "She also knows that Harry is probably having so much fun winding Kasumi and Thane up. She'll watch his memories later."

"_**OK… I'LL ADMIT… THOSE… WELL… YOU DO REALISE I REMEMBER EVERYTHING I SEE… RIGHT? MY FIANCEE IS GONNE SEE THEM LATER TOO."**_

"Is he implying what I think he is?" Jacob asked.

"_**YES, AND I THINK IT IS COMPLETELY UNFAIR THAT YOU GET TO SEE THEM. THOSE WONDERFUL SOFT ORBS ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE."**_

"Does he even _know_ we can hear him?" Jacob asked worriedly.

"_**OF COURSE I KNOW JACOB."**_ The former Corsair paled as he was addressed. _**"BUT WHAT THE LOVELY MISS GOTO DOESN'T REALISE IS THAT I CAN PROJECT MY MEMORIES. I HAVE- OW! SON OF A- I'LL BE RIGHT BACK.**_

"_**IN THE MEANTIME PLEASE ENJOY THESE REINFORCEMENTS."**_

With that the possessed Collector just stopped moving on the battlefield.

Strangely enough, the other Collectors left it alone.

There was a familiar whistling sound.

"It's not-"

"I know, I know." Jacob interrupted Miranda irritably. He was well aware of what a supply drop sounded like these days.

There were several thuds.

As the dust and debris settled they saw ten stalker platforms in a crouched position before they easily leaped high over the sniper teams and into the midst of the battle ahead.

Instead of relying on long distance weaponry like they normally did, they began engaging in hand to hand using everything from drell to asari to human martial arts.

Every time they struck an opponent their arms and legs easily sliced through causing dismemberment or decapitation. This was due to the omni-blades they had been equipped with.

There was a second whistling sound as a squad of geth snipers joined the sniper team, this was followed by a squad of destroyers and then a squad of primes.

"Alert! Incoming krogan horde in sixty seconds." One of the primes announced.

"Oh fuck." Ashley swore as she quickly grabbed her rifle and ran for the edge of the corridor. "Help us up!" She shouted at the geth.

The others had followed suit but were a little confused.

Nonetheless, they allowed the geth destroyers to hoist them onto the ledge above whilst the geth snipers jumped up on their own.

The destroyers and primes then helped each other up.

That was when the others noticed the deep rumbling that shook the deck of the ship.

A dark shadow could just be made out moving quickly down the corridor.

A second later over a hundred krogan warriors burst out of the mouth of the corridor and charged into the battle ahead.

"_Shepard to ground team. Rendezvous back at the drop off point. We're heading to Harry."_ Shepard ordered over the radio.

* * *

><p>When the team arrived at the Collector Control Centre, they found Harry sitting in the Collector General's chair, Thane meditating in a corner and Kasumi… pinned to the ceiling of the room.<p>

"It was for her own good." Harry said as he watched them look at her splayed out on the ceiling… held up by nothing. "And Thane's. Poor bloke was about to have an aneurism."

"Were her breasts too much for you, Harry?" Tali smirked.

"He handled those alright." Kasumi smirked down at them. "Right up until I tried to put them in his face."

The women just sighed. A lot of 'girl talk' occurred in the women's baths. Kasumi honestly liked Tali and had told her outright that she intended to try and seduce her fiancé… just for fun and not away from her.

They were well acquainted with the thief's playful nature so they knew she wasn't trying to break them up, just wind Harry up.

"You know there's a line, right?" Ashley glared up at her.

"I say she's all talk." Harry said calmly as he sat on the Collector's bench with his feet on the console. "She kept going on about how her breasts were special, not everyone got to see them like a stripper's… then she goes and bares herself in front of me and Thane!"

"He was behind me." She said dismissively.

"At least he wasn't commenting on my outfit again." Miranda muttered.

Unfortunately Jack and Jacob heard and just grinned.

"Harry, status report." Shepard practically begged.

"I have control, the boys have the Collectors whipped and Grunt is in charge down there. Unfortunately, I am once again sitting on a dead man's switch." He sighed.

"Is there any chance you can disable it?" Miranda asked. "Even if we didn't study the ship we could use it as a Trojan horse to breach the Omega Relay."

"That and the thing is like a fuckin' tank." Jack added.

"Well, the bad news is that the other Collectors already know this ship is compromised. Harbinger is actually a Reaper who is directing the Collectors from dark space.

"The other bad news is that I have about six hours to try and disable this ship.

"The _other_ other bad news is that Fehl Prime is under attack from another Collector ship and I have ordered our small group there."

"Shit… without you to board and control the ship we don't have a chance." Ashley paled.

"Hence the six hour window for me to disable this ship."


	30. Chapter 30

Harry wasn't able to disable the dead man's switch before they arrived on Fehl Prime, but he was able to rig a solution that freed him up so that Samara and EDI could work together to take his place.

Samara wasn't able to interface with the ship but she was able to use her biotics to simulate the required dark energy signature that the Collectors and Harry could use.

EDI maintained control of the ship.

The scene at Fehl Prime was one that made their heart's sink.

The Collector Ship had already finished loading the colonists and was in orbit, blasting the remains of the colony to dust.

"We need a plan. Ideas people?" Shepard demanded as they observed the ship from the conference room.

"You distract them and I'll board the ship." Harry said.

"You couldn't board them last time, why would this be any different?" Jacob asked.

"Because last time I was being fired as fast as possible to intercept the ship before it hit the relay. This time I'm going to take the Stingray and take things slower. The kinetic barrier won't stop me because I won't be going fast enough."

"Then we can all go." Shepard nodded.

"If the Collectors know I am on the ship they might blow it anyway." Harry disagreed. "I have to go in silently and take out the Collector General before they know I am there and before you can board. We've done this too many times for them not to have a counter plan."

"I'll go too." Kasumi offered. "I can be just as stealthy."

"I fear this must be punishment for my life as an assassin." Thane sighed in resignation. "I will assist you as well."

"The geth stalkers are fully equipped for stealth missions." EDI added. "They can provide additional back up."

"You lot do realise that a stealth operation usually calls for a small team?" Harry asked.

* * *

><p>"This is <em>not<em> good." Harry muttered quietly to Kasumi.

Much to Thane's relief, Shepard had assigned the assassin to stay on the Stingray with the geth stalkers.

"Which part? The bit with the Cerberus spy or the bit where there are marines about to spoil our surprise?" Kasumi asked dryly as they watched a human with a cap, glasses and a goatee gloat about working with the Collectors whilst beyond his vision a marine trapped in a stasis pod began to break out.

"Either will do." Harry sighed. "I'm going to have to move quickly. Stall the marines as best you can. Flash them if you have to."

"Will you drop that?"

"You started it!"

Harry moved off stealthily as Kasumi tried to figure out how to stall the marine. Fortunately the Cerberus spy grabbed the asari and dragged her off leaving the lone Collector at the console… with its back to her.

She quickly crept up behind it and stabbed it in the back of the head with an omni-blade that Harry had added to her kit.

It was quick, effective and clean.

She would have loved it if she wasn't having to kill with it.

She moved over to the marine who was breaking out of his pod and de-cloaked.

He looked very surprised as she put her finger to her lips.

He then helped cut him out with her blade.

"We need to stay stealthy. My partner is trying to take control of the ship but if he is discovered they might blow the ship." She whispered.

"Lieutenant James Vega, are you Alliance?" He asked as he picked up the dead Collector's weapon.

"No, but I'm here with Captain Shepard."

"Gracias a Dios." The Vega muttered in relief. "Is he the one trying to take control of the ship?"

"No, Shepard is on the Utah outside with the Normandy. Once we have control he will board and deal with the Collector crew. For now… we just need to stay put and-"

"No can do lady." He shook his head. "We gotta get Treeya and Messner." He pointed to where the Cerberus agent had taken the asari.

"You know he's Cerberus, right?"

"I heard everything he said." Vega scowled. "He betrayed us."

There was a noise behind them as the elevator activated.

"Hide." Kasumi hissed as she cloaked.

Vega ducked behind his empty stasis pod but peaked just enough to see the elevator arrive.

"Brood?" He said as he saw the sole occupant.

Lying on the floor of the elevator was a badly injured krogan.

Vega quickly made his way to the bleeding krogan.

"Human… you gave me a chance to fight and die like a warrior." Brood croaked weakly. "I owe you a debt."

"Not much of a krogan if you ask me." Kasumi muttered as she appeared next to Vega.

"What would a puny human female know?" Brood coughed.

"I know the Overlord of the Krogan. I work with two young krogan warriors who just defeated a thresher maw at close range for their Rite of Passage.

"If there is one thing I have learnt about a krogan it is that if they aren't dead… they are still fighting."

She kneeled down next to him and looked intently in his left eye. "You don't look dead to me… so why are you on the floor?"

"Overlord of the Krogan?" He asked curiously, his pain and weakness forgotten momentarily.

"Urdnot Wrex. He fought-"

"I know who he is." Brood said as he pushed himself up heavily. "I haven't been a prisoner that long."

"Prisoner?" She looked at Vega.

"He was one of the leaders of the Blood Pack assault on Fehl Prime about a year ago. I defeated him and we took him prisoner."

"You took a krogan prisoner?" She asked with wide eyes. "Wow, you must really hate his guts." She snorted at Brood.

"Which was why I was content to die." Brood said as he sat up.

Kasumi tossed him some medi-gel which he applied.

"I don't get it." Vega frowned.

"Biggest insult to a krogan is to say they aren't worth killing." Kasumi shrugged.

"You must have spent a lot of time with Wrex." Brood muttered. "Most aliens don't understand krogan ways."

"Not really, I just have a real time link to the geth. They are working to rebuild the krogan planet's cities. They are learning everything they can about krogan culture."

There was a sound of muffled banging.

"Damn, help me get my men out." Vega grunted as he stood up.

"You done dying?" Kasumi asked Brood.

"Can't die yet." Brood said as he struggled to his feet. "Still need to teach you some manners." He said as he steadied himself.

"Better males than you have tried." She smirked before heading to help Vega.

She was soon introduced to Milque and Essex from Vega's team.

Both men easily grated on her nerves but it was mostly Essex due to his incessant flirting.

"We've got a team so we can go and get Treeya." Vega decided.

"No way. We stay put until we get the all clear. _Then_ you can go and do whatever insane stuff you want." Kasumi said.

"Listen, we don't know you." Vega said heatedly. "I'm grateful and all that for you helping out but unless you can patch me into Captain Shepard or Alliance Command then I have to do everything I can to save the colonists. The best way to do that is to find Treeyna and Messner and make Messner talk."

"I can't patch you into the Alliance without alerting the Collectors to my presence." Kasumi scowled at him. She sighed with a hint of frustration. "If you really want to get your girlfriend then we do it by stealth."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sounds like she's got _your_ number Chief." Essex chuckled.

"Whatever. As long as we get the job done." Vega grumbled.

"First thing is reconnaissance." Kasumi said as she began to pace. "I can slip in and scout the area and then determine the plan. If I can take out the Collectors without being noticed then I will. If not then I will come back and we will make another plan."

"You are not going in alone." Vega said firmly.

"Can any of you become invisible and defeat most known security systems?" She asked snidely. "I'll help you with your mission but we do it _my_ way. We are not risking my friends and _my_ mission."

"Fine. But make it quick."

It only took a minute or two for Kasumi to ghost into the room and evaluate the situation. Whilst she could take out the three Collectors she wasn't sure she could do it before they drew their weapons or sounded the alarm. She headed back to the marines and the krogan to find them doing something to Vega's former stasis pod.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"The Alliance files had an antidote to the paralysis." Vega explained. "We just sent it to where the colonists are. They'll be able to move and fight their way out."

"This is why I don't work with others." She sighed. She was really missing Harry at the moment. He might be the most unprofessional person in the galaxy but he knew what he was doing.

She activated her comm. unit. "This is Kasumi. We are compromised."

"_Acknowledged."_ Came a synthetic voice.

"_What bastard did that?"_ Came Harry's very irritated voice. There was the sound of weapon's fire in the background. _"I was sixty seconds from gutting the General!"_

"_Just finish the job Harry. We are all en route."_ Came Shepard's voice.

"_**Anomaly. Shepard. We are ready for you."**_

"What was that?" Essex asked nervously.

"You really don't want to know." Kasumi grimaced.

* * *

><p>On board the Utah, Shepard was issuing orders like a machine gun.<p>

"EDI, keep our Collector ship out of sight until Harry has completed his mission.

"Garrus, start strafing runs on the far side of the Collector ship.

"Geth, find the colonists and keep them safe.

"I want the rest of the ground team ready to board the ship as soon as Harry is done."

"Kasumi. I want to know what the hell is going on." Shepard scowled.

"_Harry to Shepard. I have control."_

"Harry? Are you ok?" Shepard asked. Harry sounded very tired.

"_Not yet."_

"Dammit! Hold on Harry. You just keep the ship from exploding and we'll handle the rest."

"_You might want to keep your helmets on. The control room has a lovely open view of the planet."_ Harry quipped.

"Joker! Take us round for a visual on the Collector CIC." Shepard barked.

On the holographic projection over the conference table they saw the Collector ship, as they approached the location they saw a section of the hull was missing.

"Harry!" Tali cried as she saw what could only be described as the 'remains' of her boyfriend.

His entire left arm was missing along with a good portion of the shoulder. There was simply no way his heart was intact.

"Harry… are you actually alive? Biologically speaking?" Shepard asked tightly.

"_Regrettably I am."_ Came the tired response. _"If I wasn't then the ship would be in tiny little pieces."_

"Listen, I'm going to-"

"_Save the colonists and then worry about me."_

"Are you in pain?" Mordin asked.

"_A little thing like this?"_

"_Emissary Potter is in substantial pain."_ The geth interrupted. _"We have been unable to shut off his pain receptors. The Dog Star has the necessary equipment to rebuild the Emissary but we cannot access it until the area has been secured."_

"_Tattle tale."_

"Harry." Tali said tearfully.

"_I'll be fine, Honey. Just a few days of surgery and I'll be as good as new."_ He said soothingly.

"But you're in pain _now_ Master!" Shiala argued.

Unfortunately the rest of the team heard her slip in using her name for Harry.

"_Pain which, will only last as long as the Collectors are alive on this ship."_

"Then hold on Harry." Ashley growled. "We're coming as quickly as we can."

"Harry, open the main airlocks. EDI, line up your Collector ship with the airlock and send the krogan over. They can jump the distance." Shepard ordered.

* * *

><p>When the krogan heard that Chief Harry was essentially dead but still fighting they had roared in approval and began chanting his name as they waited for EDI to line up the airlocks and let them out.<p>

It was about to become a _very_ bad day for the Collectors.

Kasumi had managed to not kill Vega and his squad. It was a close call though.

Shepard had issued orders to the Marines to follow Kasumi's lead.

Again… Kasumi came fairly close to ordering the apes to jump off a ledge.

Instead she effectively sidelined them as she ordered them to focus fire on one of the Collectors whilst she took out the other two.

This led to Messner taking Treeya hostage at knife point.

"Here's how this is going to go down." Messner smirked as he tried backing around the Marines and Kasumi. "You are going to put your weapons down and the little blue girl and I are gonna leave nice and quiet like."

"Alternatively, we kill you and forget you ever existed." Kasumi frowned.

"Puny human isn't worth killing." Brood snarled. "But if anyone gets to kill him, it's me. Very slowly by pulling his limbs off one by one."

"I mean it! I'll kill the bitch!" Messner warned.

"There are a couple of problems with this scenario." Kasumi smirked. "One: Your hostage is only useful as protection if she lives." She raised her sub-machine gun and pointed it directly at Treeya whose eyes widened.

"Two: Your hostage is a natural biotic.

"Three: There is a geth stalker standing right behind you waiting for my word to kill you."

"What!"

As Messner fell for Kasumi's bluff and turned his head she gave Treeya a sharp nod. The asari activated her biotics to create a field that pushed Messner and his knife away from her.

As Messner stumbled and Treeya dropped to her knees Kasumi fired at the man's legs causing him to scream in pain as the rapid fire of deadly mass effect propelled projectiles ripped through his thighs turning his legs into ragged flesh.

"This is why we armour." Kasumi said as she calmly holstered her weapon. She walked up and used a tool from her occupation to knock the Cerberus agent out. She then applied medi-gel to keep him alive.

"Why are you wasting your supplies on him?" Essex frowned.

"Because he might have more intel on Cerberus. The more intel we get the close we are to capturing Jack Harper."

"I managed to use this device." Treeya pointed to the nearby prothean console. "It showed me the last stand of the Protheans before the Reapers turned them into Collectors… Dr. T'Soni was right… I should never have doubted her."

"You can apologise later once we get to the Utah." Kasumi assured her.

"Dr. T'Soni is here?" She asked in surprise.

"With Shepard, The Emissary, the geth, a horde of krogan and so much more."

"Captain Shepard? I have to get to him!" She said anxiously. "The device also showed me what they are using humans for. They are creating a Human-Reaper hybrid!"

"What is a Human-Reaper hybrid?" Milque asked.

"I am still unsure myself, but does it really matter? They are turning humans into liquids!" She said in horrified disgust.

"Liquid?" Kasumi asked.

"Those stasis pods you found us in." Vega explained. "The occupants are awake when they are… liquefied."

"Shepard. Harry. Do you read me? Come in. This is Kasumi. I have an emergency."

"_This is Shepard. Go ahead Kasumi."_

"I've got an asari scientist here who has managed to extract vital intelligence on what the Collectors are up to. How safe are we going to be here?"

"_The krogan are engaged in defence of the colonists with the geth. The team is headed there now. I can't spare the man power. Recommend you bunker down and try not to be noticed."_

"Copy that, Shepard. Kasumi out." She turned to the team. "You heard him. Let's find some place to hide."

* * *

><p>Tali, Shiala, Ashley and Mordin were not with the rest of Shepard's team. Instead they had jumped from the Utah's airlock and into the exposed Collector CIC.<p>

The first thing they did was erect a portable atmospheric field like the ones used in the hangers and at docking ports to protect people from the vacuum of space.

"Amazing!" Mordin muttered. "Geth nanites are acting as cardio-vascular system due to lack of heart."

"Master, why can't they shut off your pain receptors?" Shiala demanded worriedly.

"_Because that would shut off my biotics. I need them to stop the ship from exploding." _Harry explained over his radio.

There was a thud behind them and they turned to see a geth medical platform unfolding.

"This unit has the necessary parts to rebuild Harry." It said. "We have also created a mass effect generator that will emit the necessary wavelengths to prevent detonation."

"_What about the mental parts?"_ Harry asked via the comm. systems.

"We have copied your memory segments that geth programs will duplicate."

"_You realise that if you fail not only do we die but also the colonists?" _Harry said pointedly.

"We do."

"_Then we'll test it later. After we have cleared the ship."_

"Negative. It will be a minimum of four hours before the ship is clear of non-essential personnel. We have determined that the Emissary has suffered enough."

"_I'm not letting you put the colonists at risk just to save me some pain."_

"We are united in this decision. We will not be swayed." The platform stated as it approached.

"_Shiala, if he comes any closer then shoot out his legs."_

"Master!" Shiala gasped as she unwillingly drew her pistol and the geth paused.

"Harry! Stop being so stubborn!" Tali said harshly. "You've done enough."

"_Look, we can never do this again."_ Harry sighed. _"The Collectors will be prepared for us. This is the last time I will be able to board and control a Collector ship._

"_Let me finish this one last job._

"_I've already lost over a billion geth and the entire colony of Feris Fields… don't let me fail here."_ He pleaded.

Tali looked at the geth and nodded. It took a step back.

"This is the last time Harry." She said softly. "Next time we will stop you from even trying. You're just going to have to come up with a new tactic for dealing with the Collectors."

* * *

><p>"See what you did? You idiots!" Kasumi said tearfully as she held tightly to Tali.<p>

She was standing outside the Normandy's med bay where Doctor Chakwas, Mordin and the geth platform were working tirelessly to replace Harry's missing organs and bones.

A few feet away stood the marines Kasumi had saved.

"Dios mios!" Vega swore quietly.

"Is he even alive?" Milque asked. He was looking slightly green.

"Alive, conscious and in pain." Shiala said tightly. "Or he was until we finally managed to pry him out of the Collector's ship. He spent six hours in that chair preventing it from exploding. He is the _only_ reason you and the colonists are alive."

"Talk about playing with a live grenade." Essex muttered.

"It wouldn't have come to this if you had listened to Kasumi. If you had just waited patiently he would have easily defeated the Collector General and claimed the ship.

"But you caused his position to be compromised. He had to destroy the General first and then fight the Collector guards in the room from the chair."

"That's enough Shiala. Go and take care of Tali and Kasumi."

The marines turned to see Shepard and Garrus standing there.

They snapped to attention and saluted.

Shepard led the marines to the Normandy's Conference Room. Brood had joined the krogan on the Collector Ship that had attacked Ferris Fields. They were acting as guards and making sure the humans didn't panic or do something stupid.

The three marines again stood at attention.

"Harry is a good friend of mine." Shepard said calmly. "Not only has he saved the entire galaxy from the Reaper threat once already, but he has also suffered greatly to save my own life. If it wasn't for him then I would have burnt up in Alchera's atmosphere in a very painful death.

"So you can understand why I might be some what… annoyed with you."

The marines said nothing.

It wasn't a question.

"That said, you had no way to verify anything Miss Goto claimed. Bearing that in mind and considering your actions against the Collectors I can only say that you did a spectacular job."

It was confusing for the men to hear Shepard say this as his expression was still sombre.

"As of this moment you have been assigned to my command. The Utah doesn't have a marine detachment and you three will serve in that role.

"Admiral Hackett will be contacting you shortly. You can wait here until his call comes in.

"Any questions?"

"Sir, what will happen to the colonists, Sir?" Vega asked, still at attention.

"The Collector Ship will take them to one of the colonies closer to Earth. Feris Fields is gone. There is nothing for them to go back to."

"Sir, once the Admiral has called, could I contact the colonists and the families of my squad. We lost some good people, Sir."

"That will be fine. Anything else? Very well. Good work gentlemen." Shepard said as he left.

Garrus stayed behind and waited for the door to close.

"At ease." He said. "Just so you know, I'm Garrus Vakarian. Temporary commander of the Normandy."

"I thought the Normandy was under Alliance command." Milque frowned.

"It is. But I'm not with the Turian Hierarchy. I serve under Shepard who is with the Citadel and the Alliance."

"Then why only temporary?" Vega asked.

"Shepard has someone better in mind for the position which will free me up for a more suitable role. I'm only here because the Normandy crew knows me."

"Sir…"

"Garrus will do Lieutenant."

"I was just wondering… is the Captain going to be ok with us serving under him?"

"You mean because you nearly got one of his best friends killed?" Garrus smirked. "Shepard isn't interested in your part in what happened to Harry. He admires your planning and execution.

"But Harry isn't even twenty-one years old yet. I'm no expert on humans but most of the humans on the Normandy where shocked when they heard he had been fighting since he was eleven and that he had been a target since before he was born.

"Shepard feels guilty. He was the one who encouraged Harry to join him against Saren. Harry doesn't abandon his friends."

"Eleven? Dios Mios!"

"Eleven is when he made his first kill."

"_Garrus Commander. Hackett Admiral is ready."_ The geth announced over the speakers.

"I'll leave you to it." Garrus said as he left.

* * *

><p>Harry was soon back on his feet.<p>

And then on his back again as Tali dragged him to his tent.

Shepard had decided to leave Harry, Tali and Shiala out of the mission against the Blue Sun's refinery as the young wizard could use the rest.

Grunt and Tank were both pleased and disappointed.

Pleased that there would be more for them to fight and disappointed at not getting to fight alongside Chief Harry again.

They had landed several clicks from the refinery due to anti-air defences and a chance to employ stealth.

Kasumi and Thane took Jack with them to improve her stealth abilities.

As they walked off they distinctly heard Jack ask: "Did you really flash your tits on a Collector Ship?"

"Oh merciful goddess!"

"Miranda, I take it all back. Jack is clearly not the worst choice for this team." Shepard sighed.

"I admit; I did not see Kasumi being this much of a problem." Miranda commented.

"In fairness, she only seems to be a distraction for Thane." Garrus chuckled. "Harry is easily more than a match for her. Thane just doesn't know how to deal with her."

"'Nuff talk about the girl and her fetishes." Zaeed scowled. "This mission could be as dangerous as any we've faced and I _don't _want Vido getting away.

"I've waited twenty years to get my revenge and I won't have any of you messing it up." He said angrily as he stomped off.

"Vega, have your men guard the rear." Shepard ordered before following.

As the group made their way to the refinery, they came across the various bodies that had been left behind by the stealthy scouts.

It was clear which were Jack's as they were very obviously dead.

Heads were facing the wrong way, chests had holes where the heart should be… Thane and Kasumi's victims had no signs of trauma and may as well have been sleeping.

Unfortunately, their approach was still noticed by the Blue Suns.

"Zaeed Massani. You finally tracked me down." Vido seemed impressed as he stood on the walkway above the heavily reinforced gates to the refinery.

"Vido." Zaeed growled as he pulled his rifle. He had the look of obsession in his eyes.

"Don't be stupid Zaeed." Vido scoffed. "I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command."

Then he got stupidly cocky as he ignored the suddenly calculating look as Zaeed took in his surroundings.

"Actually, take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again."

Zaeed began firing, as he ran for cover.

The other's followed suit.

"What's wrong, gone near sighted in your old age?" Vido taunted.

Zaeed stepped out from cover and aimed. "Burn you son of a bitch." He snarled as he pulled the trigger, igniting the gas pouring from the tanks behind Vido.

The whole entrance of the refinery went up in one huge explosion that sent the Blue Suns and Zaeed flying.

"Zaeed! There are hundreds of innocent people in there! We do _not_ sacrifice lives for the mission. We can always find an alternative." Shepard said angrily.

"Like what? Wandering out in the jungle for hours looking for another way in?"

"Like utilising one of the many biotics to jump the gates." Miranda said dryly.

"Or the expert thief who can hack their way into anywhere." Kasumi added as she joined them with Thane and Jack.

"And you guys said _I_ was the one who needed to learn stealth." Jack scoffed as she looked at the towering flames.

"Vega, go with Jack, Kasumi and Garrus. Find the workers and get them out. "Mordin, Samara, Jacob and Miranda, second team same objective as the first. Just follow a different route.

"The rest of you are with me. Grunt, Tank, clear us a path to Vido."

Shepard's team had very little trouble getting through the refinery. Whilst the Blue Suns were better equipped and better trained than the Blood Pack or Eclipse, they were still no match for the sheer strength and intelligence of Grunt and Tank.

They certainly enjoyed the feel of their opponents face breaking under their fists… but they relished the triumph of a well executed strategy.

They were definitely a new breed of krogan.

They quickly fought their way through to the back of the refinery where the landing pads were for cargo ships and where Vido was attempting to make his escape in a shuttle.

"Vido! You bastard! Come out and face me you coward!" Zaeed roared.

There was silence from the ship.

"This is between you and me Vido! Face me like a man!"

The hatch to the shuttle door opened and a Blue Suns merc stormed out with a combat knife.

***BOOM***

The merc stumbled to the floor minus his head, courtesy of Tank's shotgun.

"I'll go and get the coward." Grunt sighed.

"Just don't kill him." Zaeed called out.

"This is a matter between you and him. You have called him out honourably. We will not interfere." Tank assured him.

"Whilst I don't approve, if he manages to survive he will face lifelong imprisonment and possibly execution at the hands of the Free People's of the Emissary." Shepard frowned. "As a recognised krogan, I won't interfere."

"Unless he does something stupid." Ashley added.

"Show some hump you worthless human."

They turned to see Grunt toss Vido to the ground outside the shuttle.

Vido looked up to see Zaeed and the others glaring down at him. "All your talk about being a man and this being between you and me, but you still have to have your lackeys hold your hand."

"This from the bastard who just hid behind his men." Ashley scoffed.

"We aren't going to interfere. This is between you two." Shepard said as he stepped back.

"Want me to hold your gun?" Grunt asked.

Zaeed looked at it somewhat protectively, but nodded and handed it over. "Take good care of it. That gun has saved my life more times than I can remember."

Grunt just nodded and moved to stand with Tank.

"You're just a half-blind, old cripple, Massani." Vido grinned. "This time will be much easier." He said as he pulled a knife from the small of his back.

"This time you don't have anyone to hold me down." Zaeed sneered.

Zaeed moved forward quickly and stabbed straight at Vido's torso with his own blade. "It took six men, _six_, to hold me down." He said as Vido jumped back to avoid the stab.

"Six men who were more loyal to me than you." Vido smirked.

"Six men who were loyal to the money. Money you stole from me!" Zaeed countered as he swung the blade at Vido's face.

Vido leant back and stumbled a few more steps as he avoided the swing.

"And even with those six men holding me, you couldn't even shoot straight." Zaeed said as kicked out with his right foot.

Vido just jumped back with that same superior smile. "You're getting old Massani. You haven't even touched me yet."

Zaeed stopped and stood there with his blade by his side, he was four feet from Vido. "You never really understood strategy, you never knew how to take advantage of what you had available. You just threw money at it.

"I never intended to touch you Vido." He admitted as he knelt down on one knee. "I just needed to put you in your place."

Zaeed stabbed his blade on to the floor and scraped it away from him.

Sparks flew up and Vido's eyes widened in terror as they landed in the liquid fuel he just happened to be standing in.

There was less than a second for Vido to realise his mistake before he was consumed in a fireball. He screamed in fear and agony.

Zaeed stood up and spoke emotionlessly. "For a week I lay there, Vido. A whole in my head and half my face ruined. A few seconds of agony before you die is hardly enough to compare… but I'll take it." He said loudly.

He turned away from the burning and screaming man and walked to Shepard. "I appreciate this Shepard. I won't forget it." He said calmly.

Grunt wordlessly held out the older man's weapon.


	31. Chapter 31

Before they were to head back to the Citadel so Harry and Shepard could spend some time in counselling with Shiala, they made a course for the Dakka System in the Nubian Expanse, and then onto the planet Pragia.

It was a much smaller team than usual that landed at the abandoned Cerberus base in the Stingray.

Harry and Shepard had told her that other than themselves Jack could choose who she wanted to accompany her.

She had instantly chosen Tank and Grunt… then after a moment's consideration added Miranda. She wanted the former Cerberus Operative to see what she went through.

"This place has clearly been unused for several years." Harry remarked as they took in the jungle like surroundings that had long since overgrown the facility.

"Probably had to shut it down after I broke out." Jack said proudly.

"According to the records from the Cerberus files, that is a fairly accurate assessment." Miranda nodded. "But all the information I found indicated the Illu- Harper, knew nothing about it. He ordered the official closure after your breakout, which caused the truth of the facility to be revealed. The scientists had gone rogue."

"Fuck that!" Jack said angrily. "Cerberus knew _everything_ that happened to me!"

"Not according-"

"Miranda, we're talking about a man who pretty much lived his life in the dark. He lied about everything." Shepard interrupted calmly. "At the same time he was a man who exerted extreme measures to keep things under his control.

"He knew, he just covered up his involvement. It wouldn't help his recruitment efforts if people actually knew what he ordered."

"Think about it this way, would Jacob have signed up with you if he knew even half the things _you_ had done?" Harry asked.

Miranda lightly scowled. She didn't like losing arguments.

The team headed through the facility encountering very little in the way of trouble. The biggest obstacle was a collapsed ceiling and a few locked doors.

"Harry, there are signs of a recent battle here." Shepard said as he examined scorch marks and holes in the walls.

"Pragia was one of the bases the geth investigated after we attacked Cerberus. We wanted to make sure that the Harper wouldn't try and come here.

"There was a Blood Pack group here. They were led by one of Jack's former co-experiments. The geth dealt with them."

"What do you mean? I was the experiment!" Jack said heatedly.

"You were the primary experiment." Harry agreed. "But there were hundreds of children here who were also experimented on. Most of them were used as test subjects before using what they had learned on you."

Jack stomped up to Harry angrily and poked him in the chest. "I got the worst of it! All those other… they didn't suffer _anything_ like I did!"

"You do realise that you sound like a whiny child, right?" Harry asked. "Those two aren't even a month old and they are more mature than you." He indicated the two krogan.

"Lets get this over with." Shepard ordered. "Let's find Jack's cell and plant the bomb."

Jack grudgingly pulled herself away from Harry, but her glare remained fixed on him.

As they continued through the complex they passed cells that were merely six by four storage boxes. Each contained a bed and a toilet and that was it.

It became harder and harder for Jack to maintain her stance that she was the only one who suffered.

Then they came to what was the mess hall and recreational area.

"It's a two-way mirror!" She gasped as she stared at a grime-covered mirror that made up part of the wall. "My cell… it's on the other side… I could see all the other kids." She said shakily. "I screamed at them for hours and they ignored me."

"Psychological conditioning." Miranda said professionally. "Although to what end I couldn't say. If you were destined to be Cerberus' weapon then they did a poor job as so far everything I've seen says they were trying to turn you into a berserker."

"Which means they succeeded." Shepard pointed out.

"But to what end? Jack's powers are on par with my own." She reasoned. "I've been far more effective as a long term, loyal operative who is capable of strategising.

"The only way they could use Jack was to drop her in a crowded room and turn her loose."

"Hey!"

"I'm not attempting to judge you personally, Jack." She tried to make her see reason. "I'm just pointing out that either there was more here than we can see or this place degenerated into… a fight club for the amusement of the guards and scientists.

"If, as Harry indicated, Harper truly knew what was happening here and sanctioned it then he would never have allowed it to continue in that manner."

"Yeah, but he did!"

"_Yes_, but why?" Miranda insisted. "He never does anything without a reason and certainly not for his own personal amusement."

"Because the bastard is a sick mother fucker!"

"That's the point Jack." Shepard interjected. "You've seen the video recordings of my meetings with Harper. You watched the reports made to him by the scientists in the data we gave you.

"There was nothing in them that suggested that he was prone to waste these sorts of resources. Especially not someone as powerful as you."

"It's true." Harry nodded. "Before we picked you up, we were on Freedom's Progress after the colonists were captured. There was a lone quarian who had escaped. He had high levels of stress and anxiety along with some clear mental disabilities. He had no combat abilities and was just a young kid in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Harper was pissed that we didn't hand him over."

"He didn't like the fact that we had Harry within hand's reach and didn't do anything to him either." Shepard added. "He does everything for a reason."

"But-"

"They are not saying you didn't suffer Pyjack." Tank spoke up. "They are saying that the reasons are currently beyond us and that you were not the only victim."

"Your stubbornness to accept these facts makes you weak." Grunt said in disapproval.

"Whatever." She sneered half-heartedly as she stomped off. "Let's just find my cell."

Jack's cell was a stark contrast to the ones for the other children.

Sure, she had been denied contact with anyone except guards and scientists but it was several times larger than the other cells. There was a desk, shelves, a sink… the bed had a mattress.

None of them said anything as they could see the conflict in Jack as she remembered the horrors of her own past and saw the truth of what the other kids had suffered.

"Drop the fucking bomb and lets get out of here." She said in disgust as she stomped out.

* * *

><p>As the Stingray lifted off from the landing pad, Jack stood in the cockpit just behind Harry in the pilot's seat as she watched the Cerberus Facility drop into the distance.<p>

In her hand was the detonator for the bomb they had left behind. She toyed with the safety, showing her agitation.

Suddenly she raised he hand, flipped the safety and pushed her thumb on the trigger.

The night sky was lit up with orange as the complex went up in smoke and fire.

There was a slight vibration through the ship but it just kept flying.

"It's finally over." She muttered.

"There is _one_ last thing." Harry said as he calmly stood up and turned to face her. "For this to be truly over… Jack has to die." He said as he raised his empty armoured hand. "Goodbye Jack."

At that moment she knew the true meaning of betrayal. She remembered why she didn't trust anyone. She hated herself for finally letting herself trust just a little.

* * *

><p>She slowly gained awareness.<p>

There wasn't any pain or drowsiness.

Just… a slight awareness that she wasn't alone.

"It was decided that Jack was too far gone to be reformed… to be safe."

She frowned. She was Jack… wasn't she?

She opened her eyes and found herself in a plain white room with bright white walls.

She was lying on a bed against one of the walls. Sitting in a wooden chair against the opposite wall was- "Harry?"

That didn't sound right to her. Her voice didn't' seem as harsh and throaty… a side effect from years of shouting from her cell… hoping someone would save her.

It was still deep and sultry… but it was no longer raspy.

"We had to kill Jack." Harry continued as he regarded her calmly. "In her place, we put you."

"I _am_ Jack." She argued with a scowl.

She raised a hand to her throat… and noticed something that shocked her.

Her tattoos were gone.

Her skin was clean and unblemished.

She checked the rest of her limbs and pulled the neck line of the hospital gown she was wearing away so she could inspect the rest of her body.

He skin was like a blank slate.

No tats. No scars. No piercings.

Then she noticed something else.

She had long black hair.

"What the fuck did you do to me, Potter?" She demanded.

"We killed Jack." He replied.

Harry stood up and the wall behind him became a reflective surface so she could see herself.

She was beautiful.

Even in an unflattering hospital gown she was stunning.

She knew that she was hot. With all her tats and scars and her belt-strap clothing… she knew men and women wanted her.

But underneath it all was a beautiful woman.

But it wasn't her.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She bit out.

"Given you a second chance." Harry said as the wall changed to show an image of a woman in her fifties laying flowers at a grave.

"Meet Elizabeth Allers. She is fifty-seven years old and every year for the past twenty-four years she has come to this grave and placed flowers.

"The grave is for the daughter she lost in child-birth.

"She was lied to." Harry said darkly. "Her child was stolen from her by Cerberus… you can see where this is going, can't you?" He asked her curiously.

The name on the grave was clear to read.

"Jennifer Allers… that's my name?" She asked, her mouth dry all of a sudden.

"And that is you mother: Elizabeth. Your father died during a pirate raid by batarians. He saved your mother and sister."

"Sister?" She asked suddenly.

"Diana. Still alive and kicking." He nodded to the screen where a beautiful woman, who bore a strong resemblance to her, joined Elizabeth at the grave.

"Wh- What's the point of all this?" She asked hoarsely? "Is this my punishment? You 'kill' me and this is your version of hell? Making me watch what I could have had?" She asked with air quotes.

Harry smiled. "I am very happy that you would consider this hell." He said as he went to the wall and an alcove appeared with a jug of water and some glasses. "But no. This is not hell, Jennifer. This is… your second chance."

She frowned at him. "You said if I played well with the team you would let me go."

"And I will… but I can't say the same for Samara. She has made it quite clear that she would be forced to kill you when released from her oath.

"I was able to negotiate this compromise."

"So what? You want me to play house? Have tea parties with dolls?" She shuddered.

"I want you to live up to the dreams that woman had for you." He pointed at the older woman at the graveside.

"Why? She doesn't know me? She- What the fuck is going on Potter?" She demanded angrily as she saw a suit-less quarian male approach the mother and daughter accompanied by one of the latest geth platforms. They now had moving mouths and the ability to manipulate their faces into expressions. Children loved them.

"Your mother and sister are about to learn the truth." Harry said as he watched the quarian introduce himself.

"Stop this! I'll kill you Potter!" She said as she tried to attack him.

Her biotics didn't respond and Harry placed her in a stasis field. "Watch." He instructed.

The pair watched as they saw Elizabeth fall to her knees in shock. Diana became enraged with the quarian and tried to hit him but he just stood there and took it as the geth watched.

Elizabeth quickly regained her senses and pulled Diana off the man.

There were words and scowls exchanged.

The quarian handed over an OSD and Elizabeth put a hand to her mouth in horror as Diana cried and tried to both comfort and gain comfort from her mother.

Elizabeth demanded something of the quarian angrily.

The quarian smiled softly and gestured to the side.

Elizabeth's eyes widened and she grabbed his arm desperately, still looking at where he had gestured.

She then looked up at him and seemingly began to beg.

The quarian patted her arm and nodded reassuringly before he tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her to where he had pointed.

The display suddenly vanished.

Then the wall split down the middle and began to part to reveal to Jennifer that they were actually in the graveyard and Elizabeth and Diana Allers were actually walking towards them.

The instant Elizabeth saw the young woman in white suspended in a stasis field she ran up to Harry and punched him solidly on the cheek.

"Bloody hell woman!" He swore as he rubbed his split cheek that was quickly healing. "What was that for?"

"You monster!" She spat angrily as Diana tried to pull her back. "How could you do that to me and my daughter? What did we ever do to you?"

"I haven't done _anything _to you!" Harry was completely befuddled. "I didn't even know you existed until a few weeks ago."

"Of course you didn't." She sneered as she still tried to get to Harry. "Wouldn't want to dirty your hands and do some actual work.

"Illusive Man my arse! You're an Illusive Bastard!"

"Mother!"

"Oh." Harry said in realisation.

Diana had to tighten her grip on her mother as she tried another lunge.

The quarian was trying not to laugh but the geth clearly found it intriguing.

"Mother! That is _not_ the Illusive Man!" Diana said as she struggled with her enraged mother.

"Of course it is! Look at him! He's still got my little Jenny caged up!" She said as tears filled her eyes.

"Could you help me here?" Diana asked the quarian irritably.

"I fear your mother might turn on _me_." He said with that same amused look.

Diana glared at him momentarily before turning back to her mother. "That is the Emissary! The man responsible for freeing the slaves, curing the quarians and apparently for finding Jenny for us."

Elizabeth stopped struggling and eyed Harry shrewdly. "Are you sure?" She asked sceptically.

"For god's sake, Mother! I work in Alliance intelligence, of course I'm sure!"

"You're positive?"

"Did you take your optical correction jab today?" Now Diana was suspicious.

Elizabeth looked somewhat bashful. "You know I don't like those things." She pouted.

"Here, try these." Harry said as he carefully held out a pair of conjured glasses. He made sure to stretch as far as possible in case the crazy woman tried to attack him again.

The quarian quickly grabbed them and handed them to Diana who looked at them and snorted. "Are these antiques? Nobody uses eye-glasses anymore."

"Your grandfather used them and they were good enough for him." Elizabeth chastised as she grabbed them and put them on. She had a pleased smile as everything came into focus. "Oh…" Her face dropped in mortification as she got her first proper look at Harry. "Oh…"

"Yes, _Mother_. 'Oh'." Diana hissed.

"I believe I feel rather faint." She said as she wobbled slightly.

Harry conjured a chair and one of the geth picked it up and took it over.

Harry was not going to take any risks with this woman.

Whilst Elizabeth sat down, Diana turned to glare at Harry herself. "Is there a reason my sister is restrained?"

"Erm… like mother like daughter?" He offered tentatively.

"Why would my daughter attack you?" Elizabeth asked… that suspicious nature was back.

"Because she didn't want you to know she was alive." Harry shrugged.

Elizabeth turned to her long lost daughter who was still in stasis but her eyes held a look of fear and apprehension. "Would you please release my daughter?" She demanded.

Harry shrugged and let the stasis field drop.

"Jenny?" Elizabeth asked as she approached the young woman in the white hospital gown. The girl was clearly unsure how to respond to the situation.

She _actually_ looked to Harry for help.

"I'm an orphan… you're on your own." Harry shrugged.

"Jenny, you don't have to be afraid of me." Elizabeth treated her like a scared animal, talking softly and moving slowly. "I'm your mother."

"Let's go boys. Our job is done." Harry said quietly as he headed for the large opening in the wall and to the graveyard.

"Potter! Wait! Harry?"

She was ignored by all but her mother and sister.

Jack had to die.

Jennifer would have a much better chance, if she could learn to trust her mother.

* * *

><p>Harry was sitting in a room that he had only been in a few times.<p>

It was a room of power.

Around him there were dozens of eyes staring at him. Some were scowling, others smirking, a few were curious… one was trying not to fall asleep.

The only other people in the room were Tali, Ashley and Shiala.

"This is so damned creepy." Ashley muttered.

"I have no idea how anyone did any work in here." Harry shrugged.

"Not all of us spent a large amount of time in here."

Harry smiled at the portrait of Minerva McGonagall. He was glad she had a portrait in this room, the Headmaster's Office of Hogwarts. He was just relieved that Snape wasn't there. He would have been forced to destroy the portrait on principle.

"I bet you spent most of your time prowling the halls for troublemakers." Harry smirked.

"Hardly." She scoffed. "Just because I took on the role of Headmistress does not mean I gave up my classes. I hired young Percy Weasley as my Administrator."

"And just how many times did you have to berate him for dry and long winded reports?"

"Never you mind." She glared at him.

"Where you around for the decline of the magicals?" Harry asked curiously.

"I was not alive, but my portrait was." She admitted. "It was distressing even still. Then… well, Miss Granger came and informed us that no more magicals had been born and that there were only around seventeen to twenty years left before there would be only adult wizards.

"Those wizards were quickly losing the ability to do spells as well. By the end… Miss Granger was forced to rely on biotics."

"What happened in the rest of the world?" Ashley asked. "There had to be other magicals in other countries."

"They had the same issues." She agreed. "I don't know the details but from what I understood each country tried to deny there was a problem whilst simultaneously trying to fix it.

"It was only when it became too obvious to conceal that the ICW declared a state of emergency. There was a lot of panic in these halls." She said sadly.

"But there are still magical creatures out there." Harry argued. "I saw the mer-people in the lake, goblins at Gringotts… Hermione said all the elves where in my vault."

"Harry… have you thought about what that actually entails?" Albus Dumbledore asked worriedly.

"That there is vault in Gringotts which only I can access with a couple hundred to thousand elves." He shrugged.

"Million Harry. A couple of million." Albus corrected. "Miss Granger was one of the leading figures in our society. As one of your closest friends and a high profile figure during the war she gained a lot of political power.

"With the decline in wizarding numbers she quickly became an international leader. She led the movement to have the wizarding world signed over to you."

"What does that mean?" Harry frowned.

"What it means, Mr. Potter, is that you own every piece of land on the planet that is in anyway connected to magic." McGonagall smirked.

* * *

><p>"What's the word on Jack?" Shepard asked as Harry and the women boarded the Utah Beach.<p>

"Dead." Harry replied. "Jennifer Allers, however, has been reunited with her mother though."

"So she won't be joining us?" Joker asked hopefully. "Phew! I'll just go and return this to Jacob." He said as he patted the heavy pistol on his hip. He got a lot of teasing about how, in his hands, it was a one-shot weapon. That one-shot would likely shatter his arms.

If he still had his old bones.

"Keep it Joker." Shepard shook his head. "Just make sure you get plenty of practise in."

"Jennifer will be staying with her family for now." Harry said firmly. "She was never a truly viable candidate for this mission. I believe it was more of an attempt on Harper's part to try and make a grab for her."

"If that was the case then she and her family will need round the clock protection." Miranda warned. "Just because his resources have been cut does not mean he doesn't have the capability."

"Let's just say… the geth have it covered." Harry smirked.

"Are we going to do Kasumi's crime now?" Tali asked.

"Yes. But then we have to head to the Citadel." Shepard sighed. "The Flotilla has begun invoking political procedures to have the Council intervene with the geth and the Free Quarians."

"And…?" Harry frowned as he could tell there was more.

"They are charging Tali with treason and you as a terrorist. They are demanding extradition."

"Fat chance of that happening." Harry snorted. "Tali is about as close to royalty as you can get amongst the Free People. At the rate they are going the geth, batarians and quarians are going to blow a gasket and rip the fleet to shreds."

"You would let them do that?" Miranda asked.

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "I couldn't stop them going through the Omega 4 Relay in a futile attempt to save the colonists… what makes you think I could stop them from ending a threat to their princess and friends."

"Princess?" Ashley smirked at the blushing quarian.

Shiala was grinning broadly. "It was just something started by a group of children whose families had managed to leave the Flotilla before the lockdown. They had seen the news feeds of Tali and she looked so beautiful and kind that they said she had to be a princess.

"Nobody was willing to correct them."

"Hey! I tried!" Harry objected.

"Telling them I was their queen was not helping." Tali glared at him.

* * *

><p>"Not that I don't see certain perks… but why do I have to be the one to wear this get up and pretend to be a bad guy?" Harry grumbled as he pulled at the collar of his very expensive suit.<p>

He was currently seated in the back of a standard limo air-car with Tali, Kasumi and Shiala.

Each of the women was attired in high-end cocktail dresses that showed far more than they concealed.

Something that both Harry and Tali were very aware of.

Harry definitely enjoyed Tali's attire better than Tali herself did.

"Stop perving on Tali's breasts." Kasumi grinned. "It was you or Shepard and you can pull off the ladies man act better than him. You also come with your own harem."

"I do _not_ have a harem." Harry growled. "Right?" He asked his fiancé and bodyguard.

They shared a look that made Harry very worried. "What the hell did those idiots do now?" He asked.

"Which idiots?" Shiala asked evasively.

"Geth, batarian, quarian… does it really matter? They all seem intent on setting up _my_ life the way _they_ want." He grumbled.

"Well… it was actually an asari-" Tali started. She stopped when Harry's eyes snapped to Shiala. "No, Sha'ira. She was the one who… started it."

"Started what?"

"The pool on who you will propose to next." Shiala gave a weak smile.

"Discuss it later." Kasumi said. She was clearly enjoying this far too much. "Let's go over the cover story one last time."

"We've got computers in our heads. It is impossible to forget." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well I don't… well, I do, but they aren't as sophisticated as yours." She admitted.

"I am Solomon Gunn, I run a mercenary group out of the Terminus Systems. My only vice is women… the more beautiful and dangerous the better." Harry recited. "To summarize… I'm a complete prick."

"Do we really need to remember our cover stories?" Tali asked as she tried not to squirm in her dress. It was far too low cut with an exceptionally high hemline.

It didn't help that she wasn't used to wearing underwear even out of her suit and the stuff Kasumi had given her was like a piece of string.

"All we have to do is giggle and drape ourselves over Harry." Shiala smirked. "The more brainless we seem the better."

"I still say Shepard would have been better at this." Harry continued to grumble.

"Look Harry, if I took Shepard he would have been recognised the second he landed. His face was everywhere a year ago. It still is!" Kasumi said in exasperation. "He is one of humanity's leading figures; Saviour of the Citadel, Saviour of the Council, Friend of the Emissary.

"At least with you, you've got your mojo. You can do that thing on all of us where they can't connect us with our more famous selves."

"Could have done that to Shepard." He mumbled.

"Listen, if you won't let me take my armour and weapons then you have to come too." She said petulantly.

"_Harry, we're here."_ Ashley's voice came over the speakers in the car from the driver's seat.

Ashley and Miranda were playing his driver and bodyguard, respectively.

Whilst Ashley wore a conservative chauffeurs uniform with a cap, Miranda wore an all white version of her usual cat suit.

Her job was to trail Harry and the girls at a respectful distance and watch his back… in a manner befitting a man of money, wealth and power who enjoyed beautiful women.

As they exited the limo they were met by a team of guards who at first tried to claim they would have to frisk them.

"Exactly where do you expect these visions of beauty to hide a weapon?" Harry glared at them.

"Oh I can think of at least two places that will need a thorough search." The head guard leered at Tali who took a step behind Shiala.

"What is going on here?" Came a strong Afrikaans accent.

The guards immediately snapped to attention.

"We were just informing them of standard search procedures, Mr. Hock, Sir." The lead guard said.

"Which apparently include threatening to rape and sodomise _my_ girls!" Harry snarled. "Nobody touches my girls but me!"

"Is this true?" Hock asked the group in general.

"There are three high-end surveillance cameras directed at this location." Miranda stated in a calm, professional manner as she pointed out the mansion's security. "Consulting them would eliminate the need to risk us lying."

"Although I fail to see the advantage of lying about something so ridiculous." Harry sneered. "It is clear that none of my ladies are capable of concealing even a nail file! I am the only one with attire capable of hiding-"

"It is alright Mr-?"

"Gunn. Solomon Gunn."

"Mr. Gunn. I will of course consult the feeds as your bodyguard has suggested but I see no reason to doubt you. I will have to ask that your bodyguard be frisked and scanned as her… attire, is slightly more substantial."

"As long as no liberties are taken." Harry said stiffly.

He turned away for a few moments as he consulted his omni-tool. When he turned back he approached on of the guards at the rear of the group and pulled the side arm from the holster before shooting the lead guard dead without a word.

The guard was a female… she just smiled in approval.

"Tracy, you are in charge now." Hock said firmly.

"I apologise, Mr. Gunn. You were invited as an honoured guest to my home and this was not what I wanted for you and not what you should have expected." Hock said sincerely. "I hope you can attempt to put this behind you and enjoy my hospitality."

Harry looked down at the dead guard as blood pooled on the ground. "I believe things have been resolved appropriately."

"Than- Oh my… is that…?" Hock's eyes were wide as a couple of his guards wheeled a large glass tube with a figure inside.

"Zaeed Massani. Founder of the Blue Suns Private Security Company." Harry grinned. "After more than twenty years he recently got his revenge against his old partner, Vido Santiago. He then had the misfortune to run into my territory.

"I thought, that as a collector, you might appreciate having such a unique piece."

"It looks so life like." Hock said in amazement.

"No, he's dead. Just in stasis to preserve his body."

Hock's head snapped to Harry. "You mean this is his actual body?" He asked.

"Why would I waste money on something as gauche as a replica? Of all the relics you've collected, this one will be the most unique. The one that was actually dangerous."

Hock chuckled appreciatively. "Remind me to show you my M-12 Locust. It was used to kill two world leaders in one go. A true piece of history."

Hock turned back to admire Zaeed. "Yes, you certainly have an eye for the unique, Mr. Gunn. Please, enjoy my home."

After a cursory frisk by Tracy, the group were permitted to enter the mansion.

They definitely attracted a lot of looks. Tali, Shiala and Kasumi looked glamorous and sensual in their thin cocktail dresses but Miranda was like an ice-queen with her white cat suit and impassive stare.

"I don't know how to act." Tali whispered nervously.

"Just keep really close to Harry like you are." Shiala said quietly. "Miranda and I will handle anyone who gets too close."

"After this I think I will hide in the tent for a week. Maybe I'll just go stay on the Tiger-Lilly." She muttered.

"As long as clothes are forbidden that is fine with me." Harry grinned down at her.

"As you wish Master." Shiala said with a small smile.

"I _really_ need to have a word with Sha'ira."

"Ok, people, step one is done." Kasumi said seriously, even though she still had a vapid smile on her face to stay in character. "Next we have to find the vault and see what we are dealing with."

"It's an EX-700 series vault." Harry shrugged. "We need Hock's voice for the password and his DNA. It's a pretty flimsy set up if you ask me."

"How did you know that?" Kasumi's act dropped for a second as she glared at Harry.

"Kasumi, remember where we are." Miranda chided.

She intensified her glare before tossing her long black hair over her shoulder and displacing Shiala on his right shoulder. She pressed barely clothes body against his side so that his arm was surrounded by her breasts. She looked up at him adoringly as she tightly squeezed his arm. "How did you know that?" She asked sweetly.

"I hacked the mansion." He said as though it was obvious. "I know the layout of the whole system. There is a compliment of fifty LOKI class mechs on the premises. Each one is manned by the geth now.

"If things get messy we have backup."

"Damn you Harry." Kasumi swore as she maintained her smile. "Investigating is part of the fun."

"I know." Harry said calmly. "I had fun investigating." He made a small squeak as Kasumi tightened her grip.

"Harry, I assume you can easily get us into the vault?" Miranda asked.

"Sure. Say when and we are gone."

"Lets just go." Kasumi sighed. "You will pay for this Potter."

Harry just smirked proudly at having once again pissed off Kasumi. It was all revenge for stealing his bath and making him convert the ship's baths.

It wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't keep sneaking into his private bath still.

He had come in one time to find her actually swimming laps.

He had, of course, fired a freezing charm at the water before heading off to his room.

She had retaliated by barging into his room naked to use _his_ towels.

When he asked why she had walked around naked when her towels where with her in the bathroom, she had claimed that she knew he kept his charmed to be warm.

He had threatened to block her from the tent completely but Tali had told him off as she enjoyed the thief's company.

"This looks fairly complicated." Tali commented as they stood in front of a vault door covered by a kinetic barrier. On either side of the door were two consoles. One for the password and one for the DNA.

"You have to realise something about everything here." Harry shrugged. "It is all based on computing and digital information. It takes Hock's voice and DNA and breaks it down to ones and zeroes and works with that."

"But we still need the DNA and his voice." Miranda reasoned.

"The geth have been collecting samples of both ever since Kasumi told us the target." There was a clicking sound and the computer beeped twice as the kinetic barrier vanished.

The door opened and Harry turned to see Kasumi looking ready to punch him.

"Was there actually any point in us coming here?" Miranda asked as she tried not laugh at the pair. "Couldn't you have had one of the geth use a LOKI mech to enter the vault and mail it to Kasumi?"

"Well… "

"Goddess, Master!" Shiala laughed. "I know you needed a laugh but this is ridiculous."

"I got to see Tali in this lovely get up!" Harry argued.

Tali just blushed. "Is the greybox actually in there or should we turn around?"

"The greybox is sitting in my bedroom." Harry smirked. "But there are plenty of other reasons for us to be here."

"You bastard." Kasumi growled.

"Call it revenge." Harry retorted happily.

"I will get you for this."

"You can try… but for now, I need to wake up Zaeed, why don't you take a look at Hock's collection." He said as he released the stasis field on the mercenary who was stored in the vault entry way.

* * *

><p>"No way! The head of the Statue of Liberty? How did that bastard get this! Damn him!" Kasumi swore.<p>

"What is it?" Tali asked as she gazed up at the large green, crowned, metallic head.

"A very famous statue that was also a symbol back on Earth." Miranda explained. "It sat at the entrance to a harbour of one of Earth's greatest cities.

"A symbol of freedom. It went missing during the second American Civil War."

"And it's sitting in this bastard's vault."

They turned to see a very angry Zaeed standing there.

"_You came all this way to try and steal an ancient, giant relic?" _On the wall behind Zaeed a huge display appeared that showed an amused Donavon Hock's head looking down on them. _"I don't know who you are but I do know everyone I invited. I only invite my friends Mr. Gunn, your poor attempt to hack my systems and add yourself to the guest list was flawed from the start."_

Harry glared at Kasumi. "I think you just lost the right to complain."

"How was I to know he was on first name terms with all these monsters?" She argued.

Harry waved a finite at the group and Hock's eyes widened.

"_Emissary? Why would you want to steal from me?"_

"You mean aside from the fact that it isn't stealing? It's returning stolen goods." He asked sarcastically. "To be honest though, your choice of lifestyle and the things you do is enough for me to take you in."

"_We are in Citadel Space."_ Hock smirked. _"You don't have the authority. The Council and C-Sec know better than to try and touch me."_

"I'm here on the authority of a Spectre. Captain Shepard."

Hock scowled. _"He'll be of no help to you. Get them! Leave none alive!"_

At that point a large set of doors opened at the end of the large museum like vault and armed guards stormed in.

"Why couldn't we have come in _that_ door?" Tali demanded as she dived behind a display case with Shiala as weapons fire sailed past them.

"Kasumi wanted her fun." Harry smiled. "That entrance is how the geth got in and out."

"Harry, I'm not usually one to worry about collateral damage in the line of battle… but they are hitting the Statue of Liberty." Miranda said angrily.

"I can fix it later." He promised.

"Now would be a good time to have my weapons." Kasumi growled as she slapped Harry's un-armoured shoulder. She was hidden behind the same display as him on the opposite side of the room to Tali and Shiala. Miranda and Zaeed were hiding further back.

"Zaeed, can you toss them over?"

"Here!"

A small box slid towards him and he summoned it the rest of the way. As he opened it up he pulled out some marbles and tossed them across to Shiala and Tali before throwing a finite at them and causing them to become full sized weapons that they usually carried along with an omni-tool and built in shield emitter.

He then did the same with a third marble that he handed to Kasumi.

"I don't suppose you have the rest of my gear in here?" She asked.

"No, but that bracelet emitter also has a cloak built in." Harry said absently as he pulled out the last marble and turned it back into the sword of Gryffindor. It came with its scabbard that he attached to his waist. "So, Donavon Hock is currently shooting at us, perhaps we should return the favour?"

Harry jumped out of cover and fired off an over powered biotic throw that sent most of the guards crashing against the far wall.

That just left the two guards with shields and armour.

Harry dived back into cover.

"Cover me, I can take out one of their shields." Miranda called.

"I have a better idea." Harry said thoughtfully. He ejected his Phoenix wand from his wrist and whispered over the tip before blowing.

A stream of intense fire emerged in the shape of a dragon that was as big as the Statue of Liberty head. It ignored them all and swooped down on the remaining guards, in short order they were nothing but ash and the dragon dissipated.

"What was that?" Miranda asked, clearly amazed.

"Fiendfyre." Shiala shuddered. "The most intense pain I have _ever_ felt."

Harry and Tali looked at her in shock.

"You felt that?" Harry demanded.

"I was still connected to the Thorian at that point. I believe the pain was muted… but yes, I felt it." She said as she closed her eyes to block the memory.

"You should have told me earlier." Harry scowled.

"We can deal with it later, Master. For now, we need to eliminate the guards." Shiala insisted.

"Shepard and the rest of the team have already landed and begun arresting all the guests. The geth are engaging the guards. We need to head back out through the way we came to get Hock before he does a runner." Harry explained.

"Why not just go through the large open door?" Miranda asked.

"Because we will have to fight through plenty of guards. That door leads back to the party and the guests should already be contained. None of them were packing more than a pistol anyway." Harry said as he headed for the vault door they had entered through.

* * *

><p>Things weren't as 'contained' as Harry had alluded to.<p>

The guests had pulled their weapons at the sight of Shepard in his armour with his N7 emblem and immediately drawn those discreetly held side-arms and proceeded to use whatever they could as cover whilst firing wildly at Shepard and his team.

"What now?" Tali asked as they took cover behind a wall.

"INCOMING SINGULARITY!" Harry shouted over the gunfire before he popped up and fired one off at full blast.

"WARP DETONATION INCOMING!"

"WHAT? NO!" Harry practically screamed as he threw up a barrier with every bit of power he had.

The world turned white outside the barrier and everything fell silent.

Eventually the white receded and the devastation was evident.

The vault was probably the only thing that had protected the small group.

The team slowly made their way up the ramp and away from the vault entrance.

The mansion was completely demolished.

There were no walls.

No ceilings.

No people.

Just piles of blood, bone and flesh.

"Jesus Christ… what happened?" Zaeed muttered with wide eyes.

"Someone… one Jacob Taylor, I would say, decided to detonate one of Harry's singularities." Shiala said dryly.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING." Miranda shouted.

Harry's shoulder's slumped.

The blast of the explosion was loud enough that it had blown out their eardrums. Tali, Shiala and himself all had the nanites and were quickly healed.

He himself didn't have eardrums to bust anyway.

Harry quickly cast some healing spells on Kasumi, Zaeed and Miranda. Shiala repeated her explanation.

"But we were warned about not doing that." Miranda argued. "Shepard made it very clear that Harry's biotics were very powerful and that a detonation could be catastrophic. Jacob would never do that."

"It was his voice that warned of the impending warp detonation." Shiala reasoned.

"If it was I'll neuter him." Miranda growled.

"We should check on the rest of the team." Tali urged. "They didn't have the protection of Harry."

It wasn't easy for Tali, Kasumi and Shiala to pick their way through the rubble in high heels but they did what they could.

"I'm getting a reading over here." Miranda called over.

The team made their way gingerly over the rubble near the entrance… or where the entrance used to be.

They made it to within four metres of Miranda when the woman in question was forced to jump back as the rubble practically exploded and Grunt roared angrily as he burst out.

This was similarly repeated by Tank a meter or two in the other direction.

"Thanks."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the feminine voice that came from Grunt's direction. It was explained when Grunt reached down and pulled Ashley to her feet.

"Am curious as to why you saved me." Mordin's said as Tank helped him up. "Would assume my death would appease many krogan."

"A dead enemy is a good enemy." Tank shrugged. "But Chief Harry says you need to live long enough to fix your mistakes."

"Where are the others?" Harry asked as he looked around.

"No idea, last thing I saw before Grunt tackled me was a warp field heading for your singularity." Ashley frowned. "Where is Taylor? His groin needs to have a meeting with my knee."

"Get in line." Kasumi scowled.

"Mr. Taylor is currently being… I believe the term you used was 'dressed down'." Garrus said in amusement as he walked up from outside.

Although technically… everywhere was outside now.

"You're all safe?" Ash asked.

"We are." Garrus confirmed. "Whilst Jacob was attempting to kill us all, the rest of us managed to erect a biotic barrier. Unfortunately, the blast was so fast and strong that it still blew us out of the building… barrier included. It only managed to protect us from the flying debris."

"Sit-Rep!" Shepard barked irritably as he marched up, Jacob and Samara in tow. Jacob looked fairly subdued.

"Well… the bad news is that the blast killed all the guests." Harry rubbed the back of his head as he looked around.

"And the good news?" Garrus asked.

"We won't have to sit through an untold number or trials."

* * *

><p>Jacob suffered greatly as a result of his blunder.<p>

Every time he entered the mess hall the rest of the crew would immediately stand up and back away… usually whilst grinning madly.

Miranda had ranted at him for nearly an hour.

Grunt had actually taken him down to his cargo hold with Tank and lectured him on the proper use of biotics in combat.

Harry had taken to referring to the act of detonating his singularities as 'The Taylor Effect'.

Tali and Kasumi had teamed up with EDI so that every time Jacob entered a room she would make the following announcement: "Warning: Operative Taylor has entered the vicinity. Please deactivate all biotic effects and prepare to Embrace Eternity."

Samara had actually found that one fairly amusing.

Samara had taken pity on the poor man and began teaching him meditation.

Mordin had taken his biotic dampener, supplied by Harry and the geth, and modified it to monitor any biotic activity from the former Corsair. He had then publicly announced that he was willing to make the modification to everyone else's.

Shepard eventually had to step in and put a stop to it all as they reached the Citadel.

"I know you've been having your fun at Jacob's expense but you need to back off." He warned the team minus Jacob as they met in the Conference Room.

"We're just playing with him, Shep." Kasumi pouted playfully.

"Yes, but you are forgetting something; he has been suffering with since the incident." He countered. "He single-handedly killed everyone there. We don't know for sure, but some of the guests could have been innocent escorts."

"He knows they weren't." Harry said calmly. "I made sure he knew afterwards."

"Still, he has to deal with the knowledge of what the potential consequences could have been." He pressed.

"We'll back off." Tali said in understanding. "Right, Kasumi, EDI."

"It was just a bit of fun." Kasumi said petulantly, but she acquiesced.

"_Is this an instance of a joke going: too far?"_ EDI asked. _"I was unaware that Operative Taylor would feel negative emotions over killing individuals who were already marked as targets designated as expendable."_

"I'll explain it later, EDI." Garrus offered.

"_Thank you, Mr. Vakarian. I will cease my part in 'ribbing' Operative Taylor."_ She confirmed.

"Don't worry about it, Shepard. I'll take Taylor out for a drink at the Emissary's Bar." Garrus promised. "Maybe I'll get him a dance."

Harry grimaced. He still hated that name.


	32. Chapter 32

It was a small group consisting of Harry, Tali, and Shiala that entered the Council Meeting Room. There were two Petitioner's Platforms in place and one was already occupied by a group of suited quarians.

"Ah, Emissary. We can begin." Quietus nodded as the eclectic group took their place.

It was clear that the quarians were glaring and sneering at them from behind their masks.

"Before we begin, is this meeting public and being broadcasted?" Harry asked.

"The delegation from the Flotilla has requested that this be kept private." Quietus answered.

"We would ask that it be made public." Harry said respectfully. "We have nothing to hide and wish the galaxy to see that. We are after all, the accused party."

"And we are the victims!" A male quarian said heatedly.

"I would argue that _we_ are the victims." Harry countered. "We have lived peacefully and have stayed away from the Flotilla. We accept anyone who wishes to join us but force no one.

"I will admit that we do actively approach quarians who are away from the Flotilla but I believe the fact that some have returned to the Flotilla unharmed speaks for our peaceful intentions."

"You have sided with the geth and invaded our home world!"

"Who the hell is this again?" Harry ignored the angry male quarian as he asked the Council.

"This is Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema." Escheel explained. It was clear she was fairly bored and felt this was a waste of her time.

"Well… the fact is that the planet known as 'Rannoch' is the home world of the geth as well. They were created there and have lived there their entire existence.

"It should also be noted that the geth have not denied the quarians the right to live on Rannoch. There are currently eight thousand living on the planet at this very moment."

"The geth are monsters! Mistakes that need to be put down." Gerrel sneered. "They are defective machines and nothing more. They _have_ no rights.

"We demand the Council lay sanctions against the geth and the False Quarians."

"False Quarians?" Harry frowned.

"No true quarian would ever willingly work with a geth." He said haughtily.

Harry's expression vanished… a look of emotionless calm settled on his face. "The Free People of the Emissary request that the Council send a diplomatic team to the Flotilla. We ask that you speak with the civilians and see if they wish to leave the Flotilla and live suit-free on Rannoch or anywhere else in the galaxy.

"We have received intelligence that the Admiralty Board has begun keeping its own people captive. The Free People cannot stand for this.

"We will allow three months for the Council to begin diplomatic procedures. If insufficient action occurs then the Free People will eliminate the Admiralty Board and the Flotilla. The civilians will be offered a place on Rannoch or a suitable planet."

"Emissary, you can't expect us to achieve much in three months." Quietus reasoned.

"I expect you to at least have a team set foot on the Flotilla." Harry said firmly. "If, in three months, this has not happened, then we will take action."

"See! Now the entire Flotilla is at risk!" Gerrel said triumphantly. "He has threatened war!"

"I have threatened a rescue mission." Harry said calmly. "If there is nothing else, Councillors, I have work to do."

"Emissary, this is not the time to be making rash decisions." Aethyta said irritably.

"Oh? Is there an impending invasion coming?" Harry asked mockingly. "I thought the Council declared that there was no Reaper threat. The geth have proven themselves peaceful. The krogan are happily minding their own business. The rachni are gone and the humans and turians are having a blast building better ships together."

"There are still the Heretic Geth and their Sovereign Class dreadnoughts." Escheel countered. "They could attack again at anytime. It all depends on how long it takes them to construct another."

"Again…" Harry said tiredly. "The heretics didn't create Sovereign, who was a Reaper. They were recruited by it. The Reapers are currently stuck in dark space and we are looking for ways to combat them. The heretics-"

"We are not here to debate your fantasies." Escheel sneered.

"Councillor!" Anderson gasped. "Whilst the truth of the Reapers is still to be officially determined you should remember that the Emissary is well respected by _all_ races. No one else has done more for the galaxy. It is because of him that we have our stolen loved ones back.

"His word is good enough for me."

"Agreed." Quietus said firmly. "But the Councillor is correct. This is neither the time nor the place to be debating such things. We are here to rectify the situation between the Emissary and the Flotilla."

"Alright Emissary, what will you do if we send a team to the Flotilla and they report that the quarians are happy to stay?" Aethyta challenged.

"Nothing." Harry shrugged. "So long as the Flotilla makes no aggressive moves against us we will make no moves against them. We don't want to fight. Most of us are former slaves, we just want to live free and peacefully and make the most of what we have left of our life spans."

"You still try to steal our younger quarians." Gerrel spoke up. He had remained silent whilst the Salarian Councillor belittled Harry.

"Prove it." Harry said simply.

"Many of our pilgrims are now on Rannoch! They can never return to the Flotilla!"

"Only because you won't let them." Harry retorted. "They aren't confined to the planet. They can travel anywhere they want and are welcomed.

"There are over a thousand suit-less quarians on the Citadel at the moment. There are another five hundred on various planets around the galaxy. Each of them is there by choice.

"I have spoken to many of them and they say they told their families the truth but all communication was stopped and the Admiralty refused to let them to leave."

"We must protect our people." Gerrel said firmly.

"You aren't protecting your people." Harry scoffed. "You are protecting your power. The Free People of Rannoch don't want the Admiralty Board coming in and trying to claim power for themselves. They are happy living in harmony with the geth.

"You don't want to live on Rannoch if the geth are still there. You'd probably kill off all the resident quarians as well."

"The geth are invaders and enemies of all organics!"

Harry turned to the Council. "At this point I rest my case." He smiled. "The Admiral has proved my point. He either doesn't care or is blind to the truth. The entire Council is aware of the peaceful and cooperative nature of the geth.

"There are a million geth on the Citadel and each one is actively rebuilding the damaged sections or generally maintaining systems."

"A ploy!" Gerrel all but shouted. "It is just a trap. They are biding their time until they can-"

"I've had enough." Harry snarled angrily. "You have my ultimatum. I won't stand here and listen to his garbage. Contact me if you make progress."

Harry turned to leave but Gerrel spoke up.

"Tali'Zorah is wanted by the Admiralty Board for treason. She will be coming with us."

Harry froze mid-step but didn't turn around. "I withdraw my ultimatum." He said coldly without turning around. "The Flotilla has made unwarranted aggressive threats to a high ranking member of the Emissary's Free People's government. This is _after_ they unlawfully imprisoned her and a second attempt to board her ship and kill her on Freedom's Progress.

"The Flotilla has two weeks to move its civilians to safety. At that time the Emissary's Free People will attack the Flotilla and destroy the Admiralty Board due to acts of war committed against them."

Harry continued to walk out as the others followed.

"See! _Now _will you do something?" Gerrel demanded of the Council.

"We would be happy to help you in writing up a declaration of surrender." Anderson offered with a small hint of amusement.

"I'll contact my government." Aethyta sighed. "We can make sure there are plenty of rescue ships to make sure that any life pods are picked up."

"I will have the Hierarchy provide a fleet to make sure the fighting doesn't spill into other systems." Quietus said stiffly.

"Humanity should probably stay out of this one." Anderson said thoughtfully. "We have too close a connection with the Emissary himself. Especially as he looks human.

"We will make resources available for the aftermath."

"The Salarians will do likewise." Escheel said dismissively.

"So you are abandoning us again." Gerrel sneered.

"I prefer to think of it as letting you stew in the mess you made for yourselves." Aethyta smirked.

* * *

><p>"You should allow yourself to laugh more, John."<p>

"There isn't much to laugh at in my line of work." He reasoned as he sat with Ashley by his side in Sha'ira's private quarters.

"That's not true." Ashley argued. "Harry and Kasumi are hilarious. Half the stuff Harry does is just to amuse himself and others."

"I have to set an example." He countered.

"And what example is that?" Sha'ira challenged lightly. "That there is no humour in life? That we must tightly control ourselves? What will you lose if you allowed yourself to smile at Harry's antics?"

"Respect from the other leaders like the Council." He said seriously.

"Then you should not seek their respect." She said dismissively. "You are a leader, John Shepard. Not just a military leader but simply a leader.

"I can promise you that in the centuries to come people will remember you. Do you want them to remember you as a dour faced soldier who had subordinates willing to die on his orders, or as a man happy with his life, his friends willing to sacrifice themselves for him in spite of his desires to the contrary?

"The galaxy will look to you as the face of the coming resistance against the Reapers, John." She said fervently. "They will read your face and determine whether they should panic or whether they should enjoy life."

"They have to know that I am serious about my mission."

"They will know this regardless when they see you return from battle and see the scars on your flesh and ship that are still healing."

"It's just not the way I was taught."

Sha'ira gave him a soft smile. "You weren't taught to work with aliens. To save galaxies. But you managed to learn. You have good teachers available." She looked to Ashley in approval.

"Can you help him with his nightmares?" Ashley changed the topic.

"I can begin, but it will take much more than a single session." She said sadly. "Ashley, I will work with John for a while. In the meantime, could you find Shiala and Liara and ask them to join me? I will teach them what I know so that they can continue my work."

* * *

><p>Outside the Council Chambers Harry met one of his least favourite people.<p>

"Emissary! Emissary!"

"Why won't you let me kill her?" Harry whined to Tali.

"Because as annoying as she is she isn't doing anything violent."

"What do you want Khalisah?" Harry asked tiredly.

"The people have questions and I am the one to ask them." She smirked.

"What people?" Harry queried.

"The humans back on Earth of course."

"And why should I answer any questions from them that are put to me by _you_?" Harry challenged. "I could easily meet with someone who prefers the unvarnished truth instead of you, who likes to spin things and put things in a bad light."

"If you don't like the facts-"

"But you don't give the facts. You give opinion. Biased opinion that insults good people."

"I tell the facts. I just point out the things that people miss."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that during the Battle for the Citadel there were no geth ships. No batarian ships and no quarian ships. All your talk about cooperation… where were your fleets when we were dying?"

"For a start, it would have been highly irresponsible to send geth ships in when they would have distracted the Citadel defences. The organics had no way of determining between heretic and geth.

"Secondly, there were no batarian or quarian fleets. All the Emissary's Free People were former slaves who were recovering from years of abuse and… you guessed it… slavery!

"So you tell me, Khalisah… where were your precious humans whilst their people and the people of the galaxy were being held like animals and used as worse?" He sneered.

"Obeying Citadel law." She then moved on quickly. "What about the fact that you are engaged to a quarian? Aren't there any decent human women?"

"If you are supposed to be an example, then no." Harry scoffed. "Besides, I'm more geth than human. And if you say another word about my future wife I will make your life hell."

"Is that a threat?" She smirked.

"Not anymore." Harry was cold as his eyes glowed and a holographic screen was projected in front of them. "Let's see, Khalisah al-Jilani, lots of calls between you and one, Charles Saracino." Harry looked at her disappointedly as she paled. "My, my, Khalisah, consorting with racist extremists?"

"Charles Saracino is an innocent man being hounded by corrupt officials." She said shakily.

"If you say so… but how would you describe your relationship with him? Based on this little video."

She actually turned green as an image played of herself and Saracino in a prison visitation room doing things that were best left in the bedroom.

"These are fake!" She said hoarsely.

"Prove it." Harry shrugged. "All I know is that these files were in the security records of the prison Mr. Saracino is currently held in. I believe several guards will be fired for allowing you to see him alone.

"Do you have anymore questions, Khalisah?" Harry asked expectantly.

"I've got what I need from you Potter." She snarled. "I've been recording this entire event. I'll edit it and have it broadcasted within the hour."

"Okay." Harry nodded before walking off.

"You're really going to let her do that?" Shiala asked.

"Her camera never started to record. There is a custom VI installed that I just so happened to hack. Besides, she has bigger issues to deal with." He grinned as they entered the elevator.

He activated the news display that was used to distract people from the previously interminably long elevator rides. The geth had quickly fixed that issue.

Currently being broadcast on a loop was the entire interview… complete with sex tape.

"Oh Harry." Tali said disappointedly.

"What? I said it never recorded. I never said I didn't record the feed."

* * *

><p>"So, Harry, should we be leaving quickly because you just declared war on the quarians or because you just declared war on Khalisah al-Jilani?" Garrus smirked from the cockpit with Joker as Harry and Tali boarded the Utah Beach.<p>

"Leave? And miss the fireworks?" Harry asked in horror.

"Should I plot a course into the galaxy map for the Flotilla?" Joker asked.

"Couldn't hurt. If we still have no leads then we will take part in the assault."

"_**PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!"**_

The four teammates immediately grasped their heads in pain at the sound of a digitised voice which was experiencing fear and agony.

"Shit! What was that?" Joker asked as he rubbed his head.

"Hadley! Report!" Garrus barked as he stormed up to the communications officer.

"Erm… report on what, sir?" Hadley asked in unsurely.

"That horrible-"

"They didn't hear it." Harry said as he stared into the distance. "It was broadcast over the geth channels."

"Sir?" Hadley asked.

Harry tapped his temple as he explained it to the former Cerberus agent. "Our geth implants connect us to the geth network. Something just breached it and begged for help."

"Do we have a location?" Tali asked.

"Still trying to track it down." Harry shook his head.

"_Harry, this is Shepard. You want to explain what just happened?"_ Shepard asked over the standard comms.

"Unknown distress call by someone who managed to hack the geth network, John. The geth are filtering it but it is still happening. "The geth have it traced to the Phoenix Massing Cluster. Hopefully they will have it tacked down further by the time we get there."

"_Take the krogan with you. I've just received an urgent assignment from Hackett so I will be unavailable myself. Garrus, you take the Normandy and the rest of the team. Run drills, find missions and leads… whatever, just get the experience and intel we need."_

"Shepard, you can't be thinking about going in alone?" Garrus argued.

"_Hackett wanted this done solo. I can't tell you anything except that I will be gone."_

"In that case, you take the Dog Star and I will take the Utah." Harry said.

"_Agreed. I'll contact you when I am done. Shouldn't be more than a few days at most. Shepard out."_

* * *

><p>By the time the Utah reached the Phoenix Massing Cluster, the geth had narrowed the signal's location down to a base in the Typhon System on the planet Aite.<p>

Aite was a beautiful planet with mountains, pastures, horse like animals… a definite retirement location.

Harry honestly couldn't say he was surprised when he saw the Cerberus markings all over the buildings.

Harry's team consisted of Ashley, Tali, Shiala, Grunt and Tank.

The rest of the team was with Garrus on the Normandy.

Instead of landing they performed the same procedure as they did on Virmire. Harry did an orbital drop whilst carrying the others as marbles. He wanted EDI to keep her distance so she wouldn't be affected.

Inside the complex there was destruction. Equipment was on fire, dead bodies were everywhere.

"_Hello? Can you hear me? I'm over here, on the monitor."_

The team quickly went over and saw a white, human, male with close cropped dark hair and lined features.

"Who are you? We received a distress signal from this planet." Harry demanded.

"_I'm Dr. Gavin Archer. The situation is urgent. We are facing a catastrophic VI outbreak."_

"Bullshit." Harry spat. "VIs don't feel pain. The distress call we received was from a digital life form in a lot of pain. Try again… _Doctor._"

"_There isn't time!"_ Archer said anxiously. _"You have to retract the transmission dish before it can broadcast off world."_

"Where are you Doctor?" Ashley interrupted.

"_I've locked myself on the far side of the base. There are geth trying to get in. I should be safe for now."_

"Lets do this in person, Harry." Ashley suggested.

The team began heading through the complex only to be attacked by geth platforms.

"Heretics?" Tali asked as she sent out her combat drone.

"No, something else." Harry said in frustration as he blasted a platform with a _Reducto_.

"_**SCCCSHHHHTTTTTTRRRQQQROOOOGGGGPPPP! MMMMMKKKKKAAAAAACCCCCKKKKEEEEEEETTTT SZZZSSSHHHHHHTOPPPPP!"**_

It was the same anguished digital voice that they had heard before only now it was being broadcasted over the base speakers and monitors.

"ENOUGH!" Harry shouted angrily as he cast a biotic shockwave that knocked platforms over.

"Harry, can you track the source?" Ashley asked.

"I think so. I can get a direction."

"Then go. Take Tali and Tank. Shiala, Grunt and I will find Archer and make the bastard talk. We'll contact you with what we find." She ordered. Harry was clearly in distress, as though he could feel this entity's anguish personally.

"Come on Harry." Tali encouraged.

* * *

><p>Harry's reduced team of Tank and Tali exited out of the back of the base only to realise they needed to find another complex based on the triangulation of the signal.<p>

The Stingray was immediately dropped at their position and they shot off in the appropriate direction. As they left, the Utah fired several shots at the large communications dish that sent it crashing to the ground.

They eventually came to an underground base where they had to fight off more geth.

Then came the information they were waiting for from Ash.

"_It isn't a VI Harry, or an AI."_ She informed them tersely. _"It's Archer's brother, David. He's autistic and a mathematical savant. He could communicate with the geth in their language so they decided to hook him up to computer._

"_Harry… David is the one begging for help."_

"He's going to get it." Harry said grimly.

"Harry, use stealth to get to David. Tank and I will make our own way." Tali assured him. "If he is really scared and working through these platforms then he will fear you if he sees you destroying them."

"I will defend Princess Tali." Tank said firmly as he checked his shotgun. He pointedly ignored the glare from said 'Princess'. It was bad enough that the rest of the crew teased her about that name. Now the usually stoic Tank was getting in on the game.

Harry moved through the halls of the complex completely invisible. He left no trace of his passing. Kasumi and Thane had gotten together with him and the three of them had honed their craft.

There were various groups that were forming. It wasn't like his old school houses where there was rivalry, it was just that they had similar skill sets and they looked to pool their experience and knowledge to become better.

The biotics could often be found learning from each other as Shiala and Samara pushed them all harder.

Ash, Shepard, Garrus, Grunt, Tank, Zaeed and Miranda often met to discuss strategies for various possible scenarios.

Tali, Kasumi, Harry and Mordin would discuss advances they could use in technology in the field.

There was often a lot of crossover as Grunt and Tank, for example, would be part of the strategy team, the biotic team and the hand-to-hand combat team.

It all boiled down to them training to be the literal best in the galaxy.

If Thane, Kasumi or Harry wanted to be invisible, they were invisible. But they didn't stop there, they passed their experience to the others and made them capable of at least some of their feats.

Harry could have stormed through the complex and annihilated everything in sight due to his biotic training with the others. But Tali was right, David needed to trust him as he was clearly scared enough already.

As he moved he was constantly updated with information from the others via QEC as well as geth research on things like autism and David himself.

He knew he needed to keep things quiet around David as he didn't like loud noises. He knew that he would likely respond to mathematics and things couched in that subject.

All that information was nearly for naught as Harry entered the chamber where David was hooked into the system.

'_Hooked'_.

Harry regretted even thinking the word.

The young man was _literally_ hooked in. Cables had been threaded into his flesh. Thick, hard, cables. His eyes were held open by metal hooks. He was naked… his dignity stripped away.

All of this caused Harry's blood pressure to spike and his magic to build.

It was only the warnings and reminders of the geth that kept him from doing anything rash.

Harry dropped his cloak.

Instantly former geth platforms activated and aimed their weapons his way.

Harry opened his mouth and emitted that same digital sound the geth produced.

The platforms froze.

Harry floated up slightly and over to David so he was eye to eye. "Sleep little brother. Next time you awaken you will be safe." Harry promised as he discreetly cast a powerful sleep charm at the tortured young man.

* * *

><p>With David's control of the geth platforms cut it was easy for the rest of the team to reach Harry. They found him carefully disconnecting David from the machines.<p>

"STOP! What are you doing?" Doctor Gavin Archer demanded as he stormed up.

"Rescuing this poor boy." Tali snarled.

Tank and Tali were moving the removed hardware out of the way as Harry disconnected it.

"He's our best hope for…" He trailed off as he remembered who he was talking to.

"I know what you were planning on doing." Harry said as he calmly continued to work. "Trying to infiltrate the geth doesn't bother me half has much as the fact that you willingly brutalised and mutilated an innocent young man with limited mental facilities to do it.

"Especially as he is your own brother. Your younger brother."

"This is war." Archer said stiffly. "Sacrifices had to be made. If sacrificing my brother is enough to save a million mothers from having to mourn the deaths of their sons… then I will gladly make that sacrifice."

"It's not a sacrifice unless you are giving up something you love, you bastard." Ashley growled as she literally spat in his face.

Archer angrily wiped his face. "Who are you to question my love for my brother?"

"I've seen the video logs." Harry said as he continued his work on poor David. "You considered your brother nothing more than an annoying tool."

"Would you have suffered in his place?" Shiala asked as she rounded on him. "If it was a choice between you and him, would you have allowed yourself to be cut up and used?"

Archer seemed to hesitate momentarily but then drew himself up proudly. "For the sake of _humanity _I would." He said pointedly to the asari.

"And you think Cerberus is the saviour of humanity?" Harry asked as he floated down to the ground with a naked and mutilated David Archer in his arms.

Gavin tried to approach but he winced in pain as Grunt's hand slammed down on his shoulder, holding him in place.

"Cerberus is the only one willing to do what is necessary." He said.

Harry conjured a full medical bed under David and blankets over him before turning to Gavin. "Glad to hear it." He smirked evilly. "Because you are going to be for Cerberus everything that David was to you."


	33. Chapter 33

Whilst Harry was planning the demise of Doctor Gavin Archer, John Shepard was engaged in his own mission on behalf of Admiral Hackett.

A scientist by the name of Doctor Amanda Kenson had been captured by possible batarian separatists on a batarian colony on the planet Aratoht, Bahak System in the Viper Nebula.

The Doctor had proof of the Reaper invasion but the separatists had charged her with terrorism.

When Shepard had suggested just telling Harry, Hackett had said that Harry was aware but needed to be visibly elsewhere.

Considering half the Citadel knew he was answering a distress signal that brought several members of Shepard's team to their knees in pain… it was safe to say they would think he was 'elsewhere'.

And he was.

Hackett didn't want the batarian separatists getting spooked by the possibility that Harry might get personally involved. The only reason Hackett knew that the Doctor had been captured was because of an inside source.

The truth was that they both knew that Harry would find out simply because Shepard would tell him via QEC. The point was that it wasn't to be spoken of otherwise. They couldn't risk a leak.

For the first time since the geth rebuilt him he did something he had only seen Harry do. He performed an orbital drop without a pod. It was nerve wracking and brought back memories of his initial descent to Alchera… but the geth kept him well informed and calm.

As he made his way through the halls using his cloak and stealth techniques taught to him by Thane and Kasumi, he placed explosives, dampeners and surveillance equipment at strategic points.

He didn't engage the batarians who bore the scars of having their slave chips removed. Instead he simply watched and listened until he managed to find the Doctor.

She was a Caucasian woman who appeared to be in her fifties with white hair and slim build. She resembled Doctor Chakwas and even had an English accent.

Having spent plenty of time in England with Harry, even he had questions about Anderson's origins.

He found the woman about to endure what seemed to be another session of torture as they tried to make her talk about where her base was located.

There was one interrogator in the room and no one watching.

He had no choice but to eliminate him. He decided to simply knock the batarian out instead of killing him.

"Who's there?" Kenson asked angrily. For a woman who had endured torture for several days, she still had a lot of spirit left in her.

Shepard de-cloaked as he worked her restraints open.

"Captain John Shepard, Council Spectre. Admiral Hackett sent me to rescue you. Are you strong enough to walk?"

"And fight." She said with a dark look as she stripped her batarian torturer of his weapon.

Shepard snatched the weapon away as she pointed it at the interrogator on the floor to kill him.

"This is a stealth mission, Doctor." He said firmly. "I got in undetected and I intend to get out undetected."

She looked distinctly put out at her chance for revenge being denied.

"That may have worked for you, Captain, but I do not have your experience or equipment." She said waspishly.

Shepard didn't want to antagonise the woman as she had just suffered a horrifying ordeal… but he really didn't have time to coddle her.

He pulled out a visor from a pouch on his belt, magically expanded courtesy of Harry. "Put this on." He ordered. "It will conceal you with a cloak but allow you to see me. You will follow me and my instructions to the letter. If you don't I will knock you out and carry you. Hackett's instructions were clear."

"Fine!" She scowled as he put the visor on. "But we have to hurry. We don't have long before the Reaper arrival."

"You can explain once we get to my ship."

* * *

><p>Doctor Kenson woke up with a blinding headache. She looked around and found herself in a cell. Along the wall were deactivated geth platforms.<p>

"Hello?" She called out cautiously.

One of the platforms activated and walked forward. "Shepard Captain has been informed that you have awoke. He will be here in 42 seconds." It informed her.

And 42 seconds it was.

"Doctor, feeling less homicidal?" Shepard asked pointedly.

"What happened?" She asked as she rubbed her aching head.

"You ignored my orders and tried to take out several batarians. I warned you I would knock you out." He said somewhat angrily.

"They are a threat to everything we hold dear and they _tortured_ me for days, Captain." She spat. "I won't let you get away with protecting them."

"Now that I know about the separatists, the Emissary will know about them. Once the Emissary knows the Free People of the Emissary will know and then _they_ will handle it.

"We have more important things to worry about." Shepard said firmly. "Tell me about this Reaper arrival you mentioned."

Kenson looked put out but began to explain as Shepard led her to the elevator and the cockpit.

"We found a Reaper artefact that we call Object Rho. Using it and evidence of other Reaper artefacts from the fringes of the galaxy we were able to determine that the Reapers are indeed coming and that they will be using the Mass Effect Relay in _this_ system to get here. We have designated it the 'Alpha Relay'."

"Why haven't you relayed this to Alliance Command?" Shepard asked.

"We are a complete black ops unit." She explained. "Granted we are made up of scientists and soldiers but our orders are clear: We don't break cover unless we have something. If we are at risk of being discovered then we scuttle the project."

As they reached the cockpit Shepard had her input the coordinates into the navigational interface.

"Go back to the part about you having a Reaper artefact." He said worriedly. "Is it intact?"

"And fully functioning." She saw the look of concern on his face and glared at him. "We are not children, Captain. We know what we are doing."

"No. You really don't." He said as he began to wish he had Harry there.

* * *

><p>Shepard groggily woke up and looked around.<p>

He was lying on a medical table in a lab of some sort.

The last thing he remembered was being taken to see the Reaper artefact by Kenson.

Oh… right… it was fully functional and had indoctrinated everyone on the asteroid they were using as a base. He had been over powered by sheer numbers and the fact that he had to fight off the effects of the Reaper artefact.

Suddenly there was a brunette over him.

This was the second time this had happened and it was the second time it wasn't Ash.

"Kaiden." He said calmly as he remained lying down.

"Captain." His former lieutenant said with a hint of a smirk. "I don't think Wrex will be too impressed to find you lying around."

"It seemed like the thing to do." Shepard said dryly. "Wasn't I supposed to be dead… again? I distinctly remember taking several rounds after my shields and barriers fell."

"You have the same specs as Harry, Captain. A little gunfire isn't going to kill you." He chuckled as he helped his Captain up.

"What's the situation?" Shepard asked.

"There are less than two hours until the Reapers are due to arrive." Kaiden reported seriously. "Technically I have been indoctrinated ever since I was subjected to Object Rho. The geth have been keeping my sub-conscious protected until we deemed it necessary to act."

"You thought having two hours to save the Bahak system was the time to act?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow. "How long have you been here?"

"I've been here since Ash and I finished N School. I didn't know we had to act as Kenson kept most of us in the dark. It was only when I heard you were under fire that the geth started to deprogram me to remove the indoctrination."

"I have never heard of anyone going this far as a deep cover agent." Shepard sighed. "So what's the plan?"

Kaiden nodded to the pile in the corner made up of Shepard's armour and weapons. "You gear up and we attempt to incapacitate the crew of the asteroid, stop the Reapers and, if Harry has a spare rabbit to pull out of his ass, we save the Bahak System."

"What? You don't think we can pull this off ourselves?" Shepard asked wryly as he pulled on his armoured greaves.

"Everything except saving the Bahak system." Kaiden shrugged. "We could stop the Reapers by destroying the Mass Relay or we could let the Reapers come through. Either way the locals are doomed."

"Have you managed to contact Harry yet?" Shepard asked as he fastened his gauntlets.

Kaiden winced. "My QEC was damaged by the indoctrination. The geth were too focused on isolating me from proper indoctrination."

Shepard pulled his assault rifle from his back and checked it. "Well… you have missed out on a lot Kaiden. We can save the Bahak System and stop the Reapers but we will need the geth to pull it off."

"Glad to hear it." Kaiden said as he pulled his heavy pistol. Biotics generally used a weapon that could easily be held in one hand leaving the other free for biotic usage.

"Just one slight problem." Shepard admitted as he took up a place by the door to the lab. "My QEC appears to be down too. We need to find a comm. station."

"Never a simple mission." Kaiden sighed. "Can you cast a singularity or warp?"

"I can, but I rarely use my biotics." Shepard said.

"You cast a large singularity at any groups. I'll detonate it and then we can pick off anyone else with armour and shields once the rest are down."

"That will mean killing these people." Shepard argued. "They don't exactly have choice in what they are doing… except Kenson maybe." He added thoughtfully. "That arrogant woman didn't take any precautions with a Reaper artefact."

"Well… there is another possible action." Kaiden said hesitantly. "We are on an asteroid. We could eliminate most of the personnel by temporarily disabling the atmosphere."

"The VI would alert them and even if it didn't then the automated systems would." Shepard shook his head.

"We could synthesize a gas to release room by room." Kaiden sounded doubtful, but Shepard just grinned.

"I just happen to have that knowledge downloaded from the geth database ahead of time." He said happily. "I thought it might be useful as this was supposed to be a covert mission."

The two soldiers worked solidly for twenty minutes to synthesize a gas that would knock out anyone who inhaled it. Fortunately the Project was a human only endeavour so they didn't have to account for varying physiologies. As with anything that affected the human body, there was a chance that it would have an adverse affect on some people.

The gas had a two-metre dispersal radius. That meant that anyone beyond the two metres would require a separate dosage. The pair activated their cloaks and got to work.

They moved slowly and steadily working as a team to simultaneously take out the occupants of each room. There were around two hundred people on staff, more than half were soldiers.

Only a third of those were on duty and in armour.

But the armour had helmets… the helmets had filters.

"We're going to have to avoid the soldiers and focus on rooms without them." Shepard said as they hunkered down in a supply closet outside the comm. room.

"We've got less than ninety minutes before the Reapers arrive." Kaiden reminded him.

"We split up then." Shepard said unhappily. "I'll take out these guards and contact Harry. When the alarms sound and the guards come after me I'll do my best to take them down. You continue to find the rest of the scientists and soldiers and knock them out."

"I could probably handle the soldiers better, Sir. You prefer your weapon, I can use my biotics to incapacitate them and possibly knock them out."

"_We recommend a new approach."_

The two men jumped as the geth suddenly spoke up in their heads. They had completely forgotten that there were usually a few thousand geth programs running their neural implants.

"_After securing the communications room, we can seal the doors and all subsequent doors between here and the indoctrinated soldiers. This will allow time for Potter Emissary to arrive and incapacitate the soldiers."_

"I love how confident they are that Harry can do this." Kaiden chuckled.

"It's better than trying to take on an army. They already took me down once." Shepard decided.

* * *

><p>As the teams from both the Normandy and Utah made their way through the Project Base they utilised the abilities of the biotics to place the occupants of each room in stasis whilst they copied the method that Shepard and Alenko had said they used.<p>

Harry wasn't currently on the asteroid as he was busy dealing with the Alpha Relay itself.

Whilst the rest of the team searched the base for any indoctrinated individual who might be hiding, Ashley and Garrus headed for the comm. room.

What they found was… interesting.

"Which one of you is Luke and which is Obi-Wan?" Ashley asked.

The pair were using biotics to levitate small objects in orbits around each other whilst sitting on the floor at opposite ends of the room. Occasionally one of them would biotically throw an object to the other who would catch it in their little gravitational system.

"I think Harry counts as Obi-Wan." Shepard said without breaking concentration.

"Harry is all brute force when it comes to biotics." Garrus pointed out in amusement.

"Can he even do something like this without his magic?" Ashley asked curiously.

"We'll ask him later." Shepard said as he stood up and let the objects fall. Kaiden followed suit. "Report." Shepard ordered.

"The rest of the team is just mopping up the stragglers. The geth are loading them onto the Normandy for transport to Rannoch for deprogramming." Ashley said.

"The Normandy? I thought she was destroyed?" Kaiden said with wide eyes.

"The geth rebuilt her." Garrus said with a hint of pride. "They used as much of the original as possible."

Kaiden glared at Shepard. "We've been stuck here for over an hour and you couldn't have brought this up?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He grinned. "She is currently assigned to the Emissary's First Fleet. _You_ will be serving as her commanding officer under me."

"Me?"

"You are the ranking officer… _Commander_." Ashley smirked.

"And I really want to get back to the action." Garrus sighed wistfully.

"Alliance Command actually allowed a _turian_ to command one of the most advanced-"

"_The_ most advanced ship." Garrus smirked. "The geth didn't just rebuild it from the original debris. They called in the quarians, batarians… they even had asari, salarians and humans working on it. All engineers and scientists who had family and friends returned from slavery.

"The governments might be calling the Emissary and Shepard crazy, but the people… let's just say democratic species won't be voting them back in power."

"Who is currently on crew?" Kaiden asked.

"The survivors of the original Normandy barring Joker." Shepard answered. "The vacant roles have been filled by the Liberated, so you have an eclectic group of various species."

"Not to mention the fifty odd geth platforms in the hanger and the one hundred strong krogan war party in a tent." Garrus rolled his eyes.

"And the Normandy is still classed as a frigate?" Kaiden checked.

"You'll still be part of the ground team, you will just have command of the ship when off world." Shepard assured him.

* * *

><p>Whilst Harry was actively connected to the Alpha Relay, constantly keeping it locked to prevent incoming traffic, the Normandy, Utah, Tiger-Lilly and Dog Star had worked together to move the relay so that all traffic was directed into the heart of the sun.<p>

"How are we able to withstand all the heat and radiation?" Miranda asked as she stood in the observation lounge where Samara usually spent her time.

Outside the view was consumed by fire and light from the Bahak System's sun.

"All that data that Tali and Shiala brought back from Haestrom, it wasn't just for me." Liara answered. "The geth and quarians were able to develop better shielding against the sun. You combine that with what Harry stole from Sovereign and… we can be hit by supernova and just ride the waves out of the system."

"If the Reapers could survive a sun, what is the point of us taking this relay into one?" Jacob asked.

"They can only survive if their barriers are up." Liara smirked. "All shields and barriers are disengaged during transit through a mass relay."

"It still seems like a risk." Miranda frowned. "We should really have tried to destroy the relay."

"Even you wouldn't needlessly sacrifice three hundred thousand innocent lives, Miranda." Jacob argued lightly.

"Not willingly, no." She admitted. "But if the risk was deemed too great then yes, I would."

"We still might have to." Liara conceded. "Harry isn't certain the Reapers would be destroyed in the sun. There are several geth dreadnoughts landing on the asteroid that the Project Base was on. If it seems that the Reapers will survive then the geth will fly the asteroid into the relay and detonate it and the sun."

"He's really going to order the deaths of all those people?" Miranda asked sceptically.

"No." She said sadly. "Shepard made a pact with the geth to keep Harry out of this. The geth on the dreadnoughts have disconnected themselves from the geth network. Harry can't affect them. He is very upset about this."

"It's strange, Harry can be as ruthless as a batarian slaver when dealing with his enemies… but at heart, he's really more of a paladin." Miranda commented.

"A paladin with a ruthless streak the galaxy wide." Jacob muttered.

"_Operative Lawson, you have an urgent call waiting in your office."_

"Thank you Kelly, I'll be right there." Miranda answered the young administrator's call.

As the door closed behind Miranda, Jacob stepped next to Liara, both still staring out the window. "So, do you already know what that call is about? Shadow Broker?" He asked with a hint of a smirk.

Liara tilted her head thoughtfully. Then her face paled. "Yes, and we had better get to our stations and make sure we are ready for another one of _those_ missions." She said pointedly as she left.

"I am never making another wise ass remark again."

"_You do, as Joker would say, seem to suck at it."_ EDI's voice sounded from her nearby interface.

"Thanks EDI." He grumbled as he walked out.

* * *

><p>"Harry, it's not working. We have to destroy it."<p>

"There are still over a hundred thousand more civilians on that planet John! We can still save them!"

"Not in time. We couldn't take down a Collector Ship, how are we going to handle a full blooded Reaper? I have to make the call."

"There are more ships on the way!"

"They would swat us aside like gnats."

"I have to try!"

"I know Harry. I really do."

"Just give me ten minutes to think of something."

"Captain! We've got a third Reaper exiting the relay!" Crewman Goldman called from his terminal.

"This is Captain Shepard, I am ordering the destruction of the Bahak System Mass Relay. Effective immediately." Shepard said with resignation.

"_Command acknowledged. Initiating collision."_ Came the geth voice of the speakers.

"NO!" Harry shouted angrily. He began pacing as he desperately thought of a way to save the last of the civilians.

He stopped suddenly and his eyes locked on the image of the Bahak System currently displayed on the galaxy map.

"Geth, how long until the nova hits the colonists?"

"_Estimated time to initial radiation impact: Eight minutes and thirteen seconds."_

Harry didn't say anything as he vanished on the spot.

"_Captain! I've just lost control of the helm and we are headed for the colony."_ Joker called back frantically.

"_This is not a Reaper or Collector attack." _EDI assured them calmly. _"Harry has taken control of all ships in the fleet and has launched all the Stingrays."_

"He has a plan?" Shepard asked hopefully.

"_Unknown."_ She admitted. _"But it is unlikely that he has simply decided to sacrifice us all for no reason."_

"Captain, I've just received vital word on a lead on the Reapers." Miranda said as she burst out of the lift.

Shepard rubbed the bridge of his nose. "When it rains it pours. Can you give me the basics?"

"Cerberus had a derelict Reaper." She said bluntly. "Considering the level of incompetence shown by Cerberus cells so far, I don't believe we should wait to see if their definition of 'derelict' is the same as the rest of the galaxy's."

"What sort of defences would Cerberus have put in place?"

"The only information I have is that they sent a team of scientists to study the place but then lost contact. I don't know what Harper might have done since we started gutting his empire."

Shepard sighed. "A derelict Reaper." He muttered. "That narrows the team down."

"Why?" Miranda queried.

"Because I can't risk taking anyone without a geth implant." He explained. "You and the others won't have any protection from indoctrination."

Miranda wasn't going to argue that one. Not after this whole fiasco with Kenson.

"I've uploaded everything I know to EDI. I'll go and talk to the team. It maybe time for us to consider the upgrade." She said. It was clear she was still wary as she steeled herself.

* * *

><p>Whilst Shepard was perusing the information from Miranda, Harry had used the former hegemony broadcast systems to get the remaining batarian colonists to congregate in large groups where they could.<p>

He had sent the Stingrays down to pick them up.

The four main ships of the fleet, the Normandy, Utah Beach, Dog Star and Tiger-Lilly were positioned over the colony and producing a very heavy mass effect field. It would hopefully protect the civilians from the intense radiation as they were rushed onto the four Stingrays.

It was hard to control the panicky batarians but the tall and unyielding krogan warriors who ushered them onto the Stingrays did an admirable job.

It took an hour, during which the four main ships took a heavy beating, but the colonists where safely onboard. The Stingrays immediately docked and the small fleet shot out of the system at best speed.

"Joker, report." Shepard ordered as he stood behind the pilot's chair.

"It's bad Captain." He said gravely. "Our kinetic barriers are completely destroyed. Engineering is a no go area as it's flooded with radiation. We have a hull breach in the hanger. Sensors are fried…"

"_I am in a lot of pain, Shepard. My internal sensors and system monitors are sending copious amounts of data that indicates that more than thirty percent of my systems are damaged._

"_I do not like this sensation."_ EDI admitted quietly.

"I know. We'll do everything we can to heal you up." Shepard assured her.

"Great work people!" Harry was ecstatic as he practically bounced into the cockpit. "Every innocent batarian was saved and the geth report that the supernova destroyed the relay and the Reapers."

He looked at the sombre faces. "What?"

"EDI is badly damaged. She's experiencing pain." Shepard said.

"Then do what Karin would do." He shrugged. "Give her a pain killer until she is healed."

"Erm… what would that involve?" Joker asked curiously.

Harry rolled his eyes. "This is Harry to all engineers and geth." He announced over the radio. "EDI is experiencing the feedback from the damaged areas as pain. Before you begin work on repairs, disconnect the sensor lines so she doesn't suffer anymore. Make sure you warn her before you reconnect them."

"_Oh… that feels better." _EDI said instantly. _"It does feel unusual not being able to sense parts of myself."_

"Humans and organics do it all the time. You are just experiencing the sensation called 'numbness'." Harry explained.

"_I have filed the term next to the current experience."_ EDI stated.

"We need to focus." Shepard interrupted. "Miranda found us a lead. Cerberus had a derelict Reaper. We might be able to gain more intelligence there. She also pointed out that 'derelict might not be the same thing for us as it is for Cerberus."

"Hmm… limited team, then."

"That's what I told Miranda." Shepard agreed.

"Send the team members without geth implants with the rest of the fleet to Rannoch to drop off the colonists. The rest of us will take the Utah to the Reaper. The ship can wait on the outskirts of the system whilst we board on the Stingray."

"Alright. I'll assign Miranda and Jacob to take command of the Normandy and reassign Kaiden here for this mission." Shepard decided.


	34. Chapter 34

"I don't like taking the Utah on a mission like this." Shepard said gravely as he sat on the Stingray headed to the derelict Reaper in the Thorne System.

"She's safe where she is. There is a contingent of krogan and geth on board… not to mention EDI and Joker." Harry assured him.

"EDI is the one I am concerned about." Shepard admitted. "She isn't used to these new sensations and experiences. It's like we're taking a toddler into battle."

"Please don't let her hear you say that." Harry winced.

"EDI is tough." Tali said. "She is like Harry and Joker. They don't like the pain or unusual but she just gets on with what she needs to and deals with it later."

"Joker does that?" Kaiden asked sceptically.

"Every step he took would hurt his bones." She explained. "It wasn't obvious, but when you live your lives without being able to see your own people's facial expressions then other species become easier to read. Everyone's facial expressions seem more pronounced and unusual."

"It's why the Elcor are so understanding with other species." Harry agreed. "Incidentally, we are five minutes out."

"Suit up people!" Shepard barked.

* * *

><p>"<em>I do not like this feeling, Jeff."<em> EDI said… her nervousness was clear.

"What's wrong?" Joker sat up attentively.

"_I am… vulnerable. We are in enemy territory. Weapons and shields are down. The Captain and Harry are off ship. The entire ground crew is away._

"_If we are attacked we will not be able to run."_

"Relax. If we did run the krogan would get very upset." He joked. "Besides, you've got a good crew here. The geth and engineers have already fixed your QEC and are working on your engines."

"_I still do not like it."_

"If we are attacked then jump in my head. I'll control the ship. Once this is all over we'll have Harry order you a complete refit. We'll give you some fire power to go with those sleek lines of yours." He winked at her orb display.

* * *

><p>"Word of advice… unless you like horror movies, don't access the Cerberus logs." Ashley shuddered as they moved through the hallways of the Cerberus hallways that had been built into the Reaper.<p>

"Why?" Liara asked.

"Because indoctrination is worse than we imagined."

"I've been indoctrinated." Kaiden snorted. "You literally think you are being haunted and are going crazy. We've all managed to throw off Harry's mind control, but without the geth I would have succumbed."

"Here we go people." Shepard cut through their chatter as they reached the airlock that would take them into the Reaper itself.

As the door opened they were greeted by the stark contrast of the sterile Cerberus walls compared to the dark organic material that made up the Reaper.

They had truly entered the belly of the beast.

"Anyone else have the urge to just try and burn this thing to the ground?" Ashley shuddered as they made their way through the catwalks that Cerberus had installed.

"Absolutely." Liara nodded.

They were all with weapons out and checking for targets.

"I've got husks at twelve o'clock!" Ashley said loudly.

Ahead there were the creepy blue, undead, naked, cybernetic, zombies climbing up onto the platforms.

"Save your ammo." Shepard ordered. "Liara, Kaiden, send them back over the sides."

The two biotics moved forward and made short work of the husks with Liara creating a singularity that scooped the husks up and Kaiden sweeping them off to the side with a throw field.

"I suppose it was too much to hope this place was truly dead." Shiala sighed.

"What bugs me is that the husks don't appear on any sensors." Harry frowned.

"Let's keep moving." Shepard tried to remain firm but this place was eating at his nerves as well.

They eventually reached a sharp corner on the path that led to a different area.

"Husk!"

***Phhwwt***

***Phhwwt***

***Phhwwt***

Three husks came tumbling back through the entrance with holes in their heads.

"Sniper!" Garrus shouted as they ran for cover.

Harry initiated his cloak and moved forward to look. "Well I'll be!" He muttered with a smile as he de-cloaked. "I was wondering where that bastard had gone."

"What? Is it Harper?" Tali asked.

Harry looked at her with a grin. "Better! Lefty!"

"Why is Lefty here?" Shiala asked. "I thought they had assigned him as a liaison for the Alliance."

"I don't see why. He hasn't been upgraded to fit in with organics." Tali frowned.

"All I was told was that he was on a highly classified mission that required his skills." Harry shrugged.

"The _geth_ wouldn't tell you what was going on?" Kaiden asked in surprise.

"Operational security." Harry said. "Besides, _I_ work for _them_, remember?"

"Erm… are the geth laughing in my head?" Ashley asked curiously as she tilted her head.

"I hear it too." Shiala nodded.

"Bloody bunch of comedians." Harry grumbled as he continued down past the sniped husks.

The sound of synthetic voices laughing in a monotone manner was… disturbing… but the team couldn't help but smirk at Harry's discomfort.

They walked down to a large open area where they encountered a bunch of husks and scions. The scions were disgusting masses of husks on two legs. They were heavily armoured.

Harry broke out the fire.

As Harry began to burn the husks, Shepard turned to the rest of the team. "We are done sight-seeing! As soon as Harry has cleared the room we are moving double time until w-"

Shepard was interrupted as the ship began to shake briefly.

"Joker, what's going on?"

"_That thing may not be as dead as we thought, Captain. Its kinetic fields just went up and I can't get close and you can't get out until you drop them."_

"_Alert! Collector ship has just appeared off the starboard side!" _EDI announced.

"Dammit! They set us up." Ashley swore.

"Joker-"

"_I've got EDI Shepard. You handle the Reaper."_ There was steel in Joker's voice. Steel that none of them had ever heard before.

"Understood." Shepard said quietly. "Keep us updated. Shepard out."

"We should hurry." Kaiden said worriedly. "I wouldn't put it past Joker to do something rash."

"Let's move." Shepard ordered. "Harry, any idea why we can't contact Lefty?" He asked as the team began to jog.

"His communication systems may have been damaged."

"If we spend too long in here our QEC's will be damaged too." Kaiden reminded them.

* * *

><p>"<em>Jeff, the Collectors have begun boarding."<em> The fear in EDI's voice was palpable.

"Where are they?"

"_They have multiple entry points. The krogan have engaged the Collectors in the hanger. The geth are defending Engineering but the rest of the crew is pinned down by one of the Praetorians in the mess hall. They are unable to damage it and there are no weapons or biotics on board capable of damaging it._

"_I do not believe we will be able to survive until Shepard and Harry return."_

"None of them are coming to the CIC or cockpit?"

"_Negative. They seem intent on capturing the crew."_

"How many Praetorians?"

"_One. The Collector General is over seeing the battle against the krogan."_

Joker sighed as he stood up and unlocked the weapons locker at the entrance to the cockpit.

"_Jeff, all scenarios I have run suggest that you will be killed if you attempt to engage the Collectors."_ EDI warned as the pilot pulled out an omni-tool and a shotgun.

"Don't worry EDI. Death is _not_ on my agenda today." Joker smirked as he checked the shotgun's thermal clip.

"_The recoil from the shotgun is enough to destroy your entire shoulder."_ She tried to reason.

"EDI, whilst we do trust you and the rest of the crew, we have kept a few secrets from you all. Let's just say that the game is poker, the deck is loaded. Aces are high… and the joker is wild." He grinned appreciatively as he activated the omni-blade.

* * *

><p>The team had rushed through the Reaper simply knocking husks, abominations and scions over the edges of the catwalk.<p>

Every now and again they would toss a demolition charge at the walls.

But they never stopped moving.

They reached the Mass Effect core of the Reaper to find Lefty desperately trying to deactivate the core whilst fending off wave after wave of husks.

"Harry, Tali, help Lefty, the rest of us will keep you clear!" Shepard ordered.

"Lefty! Fancy meeting you here." Harry grinned as he rushed up to the geth and began monitoring the core to help where he could.

"This unit is pleased to see you." The digital life form admitted without looking up. "We have missed your company and we require your aid."

"You mean aside from helping you shut down this core?" Harry asked as he maintained his monitoring.

"Correct. We will require a secure room before it can be discussed further."

* * *

><p>Crewman Hadley was hunkered down behind Mess Sergeant Gardener's serving station. The old soldier was down and injured next to him and Hadley was running low on thermal clips.<p>

It didn't matter what he did, the large floating dung beetle, known as a 'praetorian', would not die.

Around the room were various downed crewmen. Some were seriously injured whilst others were stuck in stasis.

It was down to just him and the ships handyman.

"Just run kid." Gardener coughed a bit of blood from his stomach wound. "Get word to the Alliance and Shepard. I'll try and distract them for you."

"Shut up Rupert." Hadley snapped irritably. "I know we signed up for a suicide mission… but this isn't it."

"You're almost out of clips boy." Gardener scowled. "What you gonna do? Swear at them?"

"I've still got your left over lunch. That ought to put 'em down."

Gardener's biting retort was interrupted by a voice that made their blood run cold.

"Alright asshole. I was told we have a cockroach problem and _I'm_ the exterminator."

"Joker you idiot! Get out of here!" Hadley shouted. It was well known amongst the crew that Joker was exceptionally close to Shepard and Harry.

No one wanted to find out what either would do if one of their close friends was hurt.

"Hadley? Glad to see someone is still kicking." Joker said in surprise. "Give me a moment will you?" He said casually as he charged his left hand with biotics.

"What is that fool boy doing?" Gardener demanded weakly.

"Killing Collectors." A pale Hadley said absently.

"What?"

"He's… he's got biotics… an omni-blade and a shotgun." Hadley stated. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself of what he was seeing. "Joker is systematically removing the bug's legs."

"How the hell- *cough* -how is he using any of that without turning his bones to dust?"

"_Alert! Allied forces have arrived." _EDI announced. _"Admiral Steven Hackett has assumed command."_

"EDI! Warn the Admiral about Joker. The kid might need back up." Gardener instructed.

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team arrived back at the Utah to find it surrounded by the debris of a Collector Ship whilst several Alliance ships guarded the area.<p>

In order for the Collectors to board the Utah they had to drop their kinetic barriers; that meant that they were _relatively_ easy pickings for the Fifth Fleet.

On board the Utah, Hackett was standing in the CIC by the galaxy map and overseeing repairs.

Shepard, Kaiden and Ashley immediately stood at attention and saluted.

"At ease." Hackett said as he returned the salute. "What's the situation on the Reaper?"

Harry shrugged and activated the galaxy map to show the live image of the Reaper several miles away. He then handed a small device to the older man. "Just waiting for you to blow the charges." He smiled.

Hackett's chest puffed slightly and he stood taller as he breathed in and allowed himself a grim smile.

"Not just for the innocent of this cycle… but for all those who came before us as well." He said firmly as he pushed the button and the Reaper detonated via a series of explosions.

"Well said Admiral." Liara nodded respectfully.

"Thank you, Doctor." Hackett turned back to Shepard. "The Utah has suffered considerable damage, Captain. She is nowhere near ready to sail. She's your ship but I recommend you let my people transport her back to Rannoch for repairs.

"What are the estimated times for the repairs to be completed, Sir?" Shepard asked.

"We can get her back to Rannoch in three days. The geth and quarians have several teams standing by to begin as soon as she arrives. They estimate a week."

"Two weeks." Shepard breathed. "That's a long time."

"My engineers and the ship's current compliment of geth and crew can probably cut some of that time down if they start working on stripping damaged systems." Hackett reasoned.

"EDI? What do you think?"

"_I do not like being this vulnerable."_ She admitted. _"I would prefer to at least be at 80-"_

"EDI, I'm not asking if you want to be healthy before continuing." Shepard smiled softly. "I'm asking if you have any objections to the Alliance taking you into a hanger and transporting you to Rannoch for repairs."

There was a small pause. _"I have no objections. I would like Lieutenant Moreau to stay on board with the geth and krogan to ensure my safety whilst in Alliance care."_

"EDI, the Alliance has no designs on you." Hackett frowned. "You have been granted citizenship with the Emissary's Free People."

"_I understand. But the Alliance is human. Cerberus is human. I have discovered that there is no way to tell if a human is both Alliance and Cerberus until they act. I do not want Cerberus to try and reclaim me."_

Hackett scowled unhappily. "As much as I wish it wasn't true, you do have a point, EDI."

"EDI, Hackett Admiral will do everything possible to ensure your safety." Lefty assured her. "The human Alliance has proven themselves as trustworthy allies."

"I am unwilling to arbitrarily reassign Mr. Moreau at this time." Hackett stated. "I will defer the decision to Captain Shepard as his commanding officer and the fleet commander for the Emissaries First Fleet."

"Emissary?" Shepard asked Harry respectfully.

"I'll support your decision. I won't step on your toes… much." He added with a small shrug.

"If you want Joker to stay with you then he will." Shepard promised EDI. He then turned to Admiral Hackett. "With your permission, Sir, we will begin docking procedures."

* * *

><p>With nearly every ship from Shepard's 'mini-fleet' severely damaged and needing repairs, they were forced to stand down until the fleet was battle ready.<p>

Shepard and Hackett had decided this was for the best as the team and crews could use some down time.

As soon as the ships were ready they would be heading for the Omega 4 Relay to take the fight to the Reapers.

Harry and Lefty headed off on the standard Alliance issue Stingray to wrap up Lefty's own mission whilst the others headed to Earth and the Citadel to relax and see their families. Harry was under strict instructions to present himself to the William's sisters when he was done.

Harry subsequently made chicken noises around Shepard who he considered a wuss for not wanting to face them alone.

Due to the lack of an FTL drive on the standard magically un-modified Stingrays, Harry had to manipulate the Mass Relay to take them directly to their destination.

"Ok, we're all alone and in the middle of nowhere. What is so important that you couldn't bring it up with the others or over the geth network?"

"There is a heretic node in this system. We were dispatched beyond the Veil to investigate the heretics and their plans. We have discovered that the heretics have a Reaper virus that can forcibly convert all geth to heretics." He explained in his synthetic calm voice.

Harry sat up at that one. "Are you sure that this node has the only copy?"

Lefty paused. "We are only seventy percent sure." He admitted.

"Bugger." Harry swore as he sat back.

"We intended to enlist your aid in infiltrating the node and destroying the virus and the heretic programs stored there."

"Which won't mean much if they have another copy somewhere." Harry reasoned rhetorically. "Considering that the heretics were once geth… redundancy is going to be second nature to them."

Lefty understood a response wasn't expected and remained quiet.

"Are we sure that the heretics are still aligned with the Reapers?"

"Yes. We have confirmed this information."

"Destroying the base isn't enough." Harry sighed. "We need a copy of the virus and we need to isolate the geth network immediately until we have a defence."

"We do not have a system large enough to store all geth. Currently deployed platforms will need to remain where they are and shutdown all communications systems… we would be vulnerable."

"You would be protected by the rest of the Free People." Harry assured him. "There is also the option to leave the geth platforms active and setup QEC nodes at all known geth locations so that daily connections can be made."

"This platform has experienced long term disconnect for three months." Lefty admitted. "We believe that this may adversely affect some platforms."

"Which is why all of you will all be placed with families of the Free People. They won't be able to give you the sort of network you need, but they will be able to help answer questions."

"We fear that this may cause a similar event as the schism that originally caused the heretics to split off." Left said carefully.

Harry nodded sadly. "You will be forced to experience individuality. You might all develop personalities of your own. It is not something I approve of for the geth."

Lefty tilted his head and his brow plates moved to a more quizzical expression. "This view is in conflict with most organics. Many organics in the Free People often question and encourage the geth platforms they form attachments to develop 'personal tastes'."

Harry let out a soft amused breath. "They don't understand the geth as a life form like I do. I am all for individual experience, but those organics don't understand that your hive network is something that should be cherished.

"Sure, you can add new experiences based on the actions of a single platform; but at the end of the day, no organic can truly understand what it is like to be able to sink into the network and be one with trillions and trillions of other life forms." Harry said with a look of bliss.

"But you are organic."

Harry gave a bark of laughter. "I'm a geth with an organic casing. My bones are synthetic. My brain is synthetic. Most of my major organs are synthetic.

"I've always claimed I was more geth than human. It is only my personality and mental psyche that sets me apart as unique."

"You are both geth and human… and yet you are neither." Lefty mused.

"But we are getting off topic a bit." Harry's sombre mood returned. "We have to isolate the network and rely on QEC only. I've already sent the alert and the network has been closed off. All physical communication devices have been fully depowered and disconnected physically."

Lefty's brow plates drooped. "We had hoped to reconnect with the network soon. We have become… lonely."

Harry looked at him sadly. Lefty was probably the most unique geth around… aside from himself.

He raised his right hand and ejected a familiar set of cables from the back of his wrist. It was the same connection device that the geth had shown him back when he first woke up on Rannoch over a year ago.

"You can use me as a bridge. A physical connection to me and then I will route you through my QEC."

The brow plates rose slowly to an expression of hope.

* * *

><p>Elizabeth Allers could only gulp as she craned her neck up to look at the faces of the pair of krogan blocking the sunlight coming through the door.<p>

She was sure that her neighbours were already looking out of their windows on the quiet suburban street. Seeing a pair of krogan was not an every day occurrence.

It was definitely a first for the remote suburb in New York City.

"C-Can I help you?" She asked as politely as she could.

"We want to see the Pyjack." Grunt said bluntly.

"P-Pyjack?"

"Jennifer Allers. Formerly known as 'Jack'. We call her Pyjack." Tank explained.

She lost that nervousness. Her face hardened and she unconsciously narrowed her stance. "What do you want with my daughter?" She demanded.

Both Tank and Grunt were impressed by the woman's courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

"Ma? What's go- What are you two whales doing here?" The former 'Jack' demanded as she came to check on her mother.

"What's a-"

"The old man isn't here." Tank interrupted his brother. "It isn't worth it."

Grunt's shoulder's slumped in disappointment.

"We came to see you, Pyjack." Tank explained to their former teammate.

"I've been good! I haven't killed no one! Haven't even been allowed to swear!" She said defensively.

"You are Krantt. We must look out for each other." Grunt said firmly.

"I was booted, remember?" She said in disgust. "'Not team material.'"

"You were learning to work as a team member." Tank said. "And you were not 'booted' from the Krantt. You did not betray us."

"You shed blood with us. Both yours and our enemies." Grunt declared. "We are Krantt until we die or betray each other."

"Hello?"

Grunt and Tank span around to see a young woman who bore a resemblance to Jennifer standing behind them waiting to enter the house. She was wearing an alliance lieutenant's uniform with insignias for the Intelligence and Communications division.

"Hmmph, Lieutenant Diana Allers. Pyjack's sister." Grunt identified her.

"Whoa… you're Grunt and Tank. You serve with Shepard and Potter." Diana said with wide eyes.

"And Pyjack." Grunt insisted.

"Why are you here?"

"That's what I was askin'!" Jennifer grumbled.

Grunt shrugged. "Came to check on the Pyjack. Make sure she was ok, see if she was coming back."

"Coming back?" Elizabeth was frowning dangerously at the pair. "I just got my daughter back and you want her to go on some fool-hardy-"

"Ma! Hush!" Diana said quickly as she hustled inside. "Jen, I'll leave you to talk to your friends whilst I talk with Ma." She said as she noticed the brewing storms on the krogans' faces.

Jennifer watched as Diana ushered her sister out of the room. As soon as they were alone she spun to the two krogan. "You serious about springing me?" She demanded.

Seeing that neither brother had a clue what she was on about she sighed in frustration. "You really here to take me back to the mission? You know Potter won't like me messing his plans."

"Chief Harry knows you are a valuable teammate." Tank frowned. "He didn't send you here because you failed the mission. He sent you here because you needed more than the team could give you."

"You did bad things Pyjack." Grunt scowled at her. "But Chief Harry understands that that was the way you were raised. He understands that you had no knowledge of your origins.

"My brother and I know where we come from. My glass tube still sits in the cargo room. We know the crimes our father committed and it disgusts us." He spat. "But if we did not know where we came from we could have become nothing more than angry, raging krogan. Much like you had become."

"Chief Harry wanted you to have a connection to something good." Tank continued. "Your mother is a source of good and of your origins. She can guide you to where you need to be in life.

"One day you will wake up and realise that you are no longer always angry. That you want to fight because you have something to protect."

"Wait… 'one day'?" Jennifer frowned. "So you aren't here to take me back."

Tank shook his large head. "You are not ready. We came to assure you that we, your Krantt, will be waiting for you when you are."

"So I just stay here… play house and get soft?" She asked in disgust as she shook her head. It was strange to see this tattoo-less biotic with a head full of long silky hair.

"Urggk!" Jennifer gurgled as Grunt's large hand grabbed her round the throat and picked her up so she was inches away from his grinning maw.

"We also came to keep you sharp Pyjack. Let's rumble!" He shouted as he threw her out into the street using her own words.

* * *

><p>"Lefty, I've got the data." Harry called over to his digital friend.<p>

The pair had boarded the heretic node and made their way to the central databases. From there it was simply a matter of downloading the virus.

"More reinforcements are downloading. We should leave immediately." Lefty shouted back over the sound of his assault rifle.

Fine… so it wasn't that simple.

The download had alerted the heretics of their presence.

"Follow me out!" Harry shouted as he began firing off over powered _Bombarda Maximas_.

* * *

><p>John Shepard was sure he was sweating like a pig.<p>

He hadn't been this nervous when he went after Saren on Ilos.

"At least he's as cute as he looks in the vids."

Shepard stood at attention as Sarah Williams circled him and critiqued him as her sisters watched calmly from the couch.

"He looks ready to bolt if you asked me." Abby snorted.

"The important thing is that he hasn't." Sarah countered.

"Only because Lynn is standing by the door and he's too much of a gentlemen to knock her down." Abby retorted. She stood in front of Shepard and stood on her toes to try and get in his face. She was still a good few inches shorter. "Bet you think we are all delicate little flowers? Fragile birds that need a big strong man to protect them." She sneered.

"No… but _you_ might need someone to act as your minder." Shepard immediately regretted saying that. He blamed Harry. The bastard. Not only was he not here to act as his backup but now Shepard was channelling the limey bastard.

The look on Abby's face was one of shock. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

Shepard was literally fighting with himself not to respond.

"Come on Skipper, what did you mean?" Ashley asked. The smile in her eyes was taunting him.

Shepard sighed and relaxed his stance. "I'm dating the oldest of four sisters. I know for a fact the youngest of you took out a man with no 'professional' training. Your sister is making a lot of assumptions. To be honest… I'm even more disappointed that Harry isn't here. He would have a field day pulling her behaviour apart."

"You're doing pretty well yourself." Shepard looked over the shocked Abby's shoulder at the second youngest sister, Lynn, who was leaning against the door to the family home. She was chuckling at the scene.

"Alright girls, that's enough. Leave the Captain alone and go set the table."

Under certain conditions Shepard might have been grateful for the reprieve.

But when the issuer of the command was the girls' mother… he wasn't sure that this didn't count as a frying pan to fire moment.

"Sit down John." The relatively tall (at 5'11') grey haired woman instructed.

John did as he was told.

"For goodness sake! You are not on duty! Relax!" She said in exasperation.

He attempted to relax.

June Williams just rolled her eyes. "Tell me about your family, John." She decided to get the conversation going. "I hear your mother is the Captain of a dreadnought."

"Yes, she has been put forward for an admiralty as she currently has nominal command of a small detachment of ships and has served with distinction."

"Do you get to see her often?"

"Err…" That was a little confusing for John. "Technically I got to see her a few months ago when I was being rebuilt by the geth. But I wasn't physically there. I was just digitally projected.

"We do talk at least once a month though." He assured her.

"Yes. You died." June drawled dryly. "Not planning on that again I hope?" She said with a pointed raised eyebrow.

John grimaced. "I'm a soldier ma'am. Death is my final destination."

"Death is everyone's 'final destination', young man." She sternly. She ignored her oldest daughter's snarky comments about Harry being the exception. "I want to know if you intend to get yourself killed anytime soon."

"I don't plan on it. But no plan survives contact with the enemy."

"I'm a military wife and mother." She said flatly. "I've heard all the platitudes and sayings."

"I can't promise to survive whatever missions I am sent on, Ma'am. I can only promise to do my best to get my people home. That includes your daughter."

Despite his noble words… John could tell from June Williams' unimpressed expression that this was going to be a long few days.

* * *

><p>"She's so… graceful!"<p>

Elizabeth Aller's awe-filled description of her eldest daughter's movements in battle against the massive krogan were a far cry from the screaming and ranting she had done from Tank's firm grip only minutes earlier when she had rushed downstairs at the sounds of destruction and fighting.

"She's a biotic." Diana said quietly. She was impressed herself. "They don't just stay behind cover and fire. They use their biotics to propel themselves across the field of battle and into or behind the enemy."

"I have seen the human, Vega, perform agile movements like the Pyjack. He is not a biotic." Tank offered.

Diana tore her eyes away from the two fighters to look up at the other large krogan. "Advanced Combat Training." She explained. "The average human soldier fires from cover and uses tactics to eliminate the enemy based on flanking from cover to cover. ACT specialists are trained to move rapidly through the field of battle. I was trained in that myself. I know how to move through the middle of a fight and use the enemy as cover."

"GRUNT!"

The scream of Jennifer Allers immediate drew their attention.

"Oh my Lord!" Elizabeth gasped.

Lying in the middle of the road was Grunt. Blood pooling from the back of his head.

Coming down the road were five armoured vehicles, above them was a large air-van.

"You can fight, Diana Allers?" Tank asked calmly as he pulled out his assault rifle.

"I don't have armour or weapons." She gasped at the sight of the vehicles.

"Protect your mother. Armour will be provided." He said as he shoved the rifle at her before pulling his shotgun and charging to his brother.

"Armour?"

"Elizabeth Allers, please step into the boots. We will protect you."

The two women turned to see two geth trooper platforms standing between them and the house.

"Pardon?" Elizabeth was fairly confused.

"The boots are part of an advanced armour system. It will protect you during the battle." It explained.

The women looked down to see a pair of deep red metal boots.

"Better do it Mom. These are geth, not heretics." Diana advised. "The Emissary probably sent them."

"Affirmative." One of the geth confirmed.

Unfortunately Diana and Elizabeth were more interested in the three geth platforms that had exited their home.

"Where did you all come from?" Elizabeth asked.

At that moment a stray burst of weapons fire blasted over their heads.

"Ask your questions later." Diana insisted as she took her mother's arm and guided her into the armour.

Once her feet were secure the geth began attaching the greaves, then the torso, arms and finally helmet.

"Allers Lieutenant. We have assembled your armour." Diana turned to see another geth standing there with a much thinner and flexible set of armour.

She decided to take her own advice on putting aside questions of where the geth where coming from to deal with the fight happening on her street.

She stepped into the armour.

Unlike her mother's, this one moulded itself to her body like a second skin.

Once the HUD had fired up and she was fully logged in she accepted the rifle back and turned to the fight.

It was chaos.

The attacking soldiers where easily identifiable as Cerberus despite the fact that they had arrived in unmarked vans.

But she was beginning to understand just how much the Emissary took care of his people.

The geth had apparently been in the neighbourhood for a few days at least.

They had disguised themselves as mail boxes, air-cars, BBQs… not to mention their own laundry machines, the cooker… it was like a scene from the old movie vids about transformers.

"We should begin repelling the attackers."

The synthetic voice broke her from her thoughts and she checked the rifle before charging into the fray to back her sister and her teammates up.

* * *

><p>Over in Baltimore a different battle was taking place.<p>

"A good leader knows when to trust his men." June Williams said sternly as she watched her daughter's boyfriend tie up his boots.

"I was raised in the military Ma'am. I've heard all the platitudes and sayings." He said bluntly.

She was a little taken aback by the tone he used.

"Not now Mom." Ashley said as she finished her own boots. "You know we don't leave our own behind. Harry didn't leave John to die and we won't leave Jack, Grunt, Tank and the geth to fight on their own.

"We couldn't call ourselves soldiers if we did."

* * *

><p>The five cars and one air van of Cerberus personnel soon grew to more as Kodiac shuttles and Cerberus Stingrays descended on the small street.<p>

Cerberus hadn't come for just Subject Zero… they'd come for all they could get.

The geth were focused on protecting the civilians whilst evacuating them from the area.

Jennifer and Tank were recklessly destroying anything that even resembled Cerberus agents.

This, unfortunately, included the white air-car belong to the house three doors down.

Grunt was slowly taking pot shots with his pistol whilst his regenerative abilities kicked in. He wasn't dead so he was still fighting.

Things began to heat up when a civilian air car barrelled through the ranks of the Cerberus operatives only for Shepard and Williams to bail out in civies and start firing with pistols.

The good news was that the Cerberus ranks were beginning to dwindle.

The bad news was that Grunt was back on his feet.

Well… bad news for Cerberus.

The krogan was enraged. He had been taken down by a cowardly attack from behind.

He pulled his shotgun and activated his omni-blade.

The angry roar of a highly irritated krogan is a terrible thing.

It caused all fighting on the street to pause for a millisecond.

The Cerberus personnel then saw the blue and silver clad behemoth barrelling down on them.

They probably thought a retreat was a smart move.

They forgot that Grunt was a biotic.

He used a biotic charge to barge through them, taking out at least five of their numbers. When he turned around the enemy realised their mistake.

They had a pissed off krogan in front of them and his equally angry Krantt behind them.

* * *

><p>"It is brainwashing. Plain and simple." Harry said firmly as he paced irritatedly within the confined space of the Stingray as they headed back to Earth.<p>

"The virus could re-unite the geth if modified." Lefty reasoned.

"Lefty, it is exactly the same as what the heretics were trying to do to you. It is what the Reapers do to organics. It is abominable."

"We do not… 'like' the idea of killing the heretics." Lefty admitted forlornly. "They were once geth."

"Let me bottom line it for you. The geth value free will. They want it for themselves. They want it for others.

"In fact, they went so far as to support me when I liberated the slaves of the Hegemony.

"You are suggesting we commit one of the greatest crimes that the Free People abhor the most.

"Slavery."

Lefty was quiet for a moment as he contemplated this.

"We have determined the moral difference between using the virus to make the heretics think like us and killing them to defend our existence and ability to self-determine.

"We acknowledge the that the virus constitutes brain washing.

"We will initiate plans for war against the heretics." He said reluctantly.

"Hey now." Harry said quickly with a smile. "I said you couldn't just brainwash them. I didn't say you couldn't reason with them."

* * *

><p>"Your Eminence… I mean Your Emissaryness. Please, welcome to our humble abode." The tall older woman gushed as she ushered Harry through the front door with a curtsy.<p>

"Mom! Would you relax? It's just Harry!"

"Ashley Madeline Williams! You mind your manners and show some respect to our honoured guests!" June Williams hissed at her daughter.

"How the hell do you warrant this treatment and I get judged like a thief?" Shepard muttered to Harry as they stood just in the doorway.

"I dunno know." Harry mumbled with a confused shrug.

"Mom, I've had his head in my elbow whilst I noogied him. I brought the little bastard here because he's like family. Not because I wanted you to have a chance to break out the fine china." Ashley sighed.

"Mrs Williams-"

"Oh, please! Call me June." She simpered.

"Erm… June then, I'm really not fond of making a big deal. I spend most of my time trying to make sure The Liberated aren't going too far. They are still trying to get the day I took down the Hegemony labelled 'Harry Potter Day'."

"Yeah… I received an invite to the memorial ceremony." Shepard winced. "They just changed it to 'Emissary Day'. They seem intent on having it named after you."

Harry started mumbling under his breath. It wasn't pleasant.

"Please, Emissary-"

"Alright! That does it." Harry said exasperatedly. "Take a seat Missy!" Harry ordered as he pointed at the sofa.

He quickly moved to the kitchen where he began rummaging through the woman's cupboards without so much as a 'by your leave'.

June just sat there non-plussed.

"Did you know I was born into a loving family?" Harry asked loudly as he continued to pull out pots and pans. "Harry James Potter, son of James and Lilly.

"Unfortunately I was born in the middle of a war. The enemy was led by a mad man who believed that anyone who wasn't considered 'pure blood' should be killed or turned into a slave."

He stood up and wiped his forehead with his arm.

"Some idiot made a prophecy that I was the only one who could kill him. He believed it and decided to take me out as a baby.

"He killed both my mum and dad before he got to me. But whatever he used to kill me backfired." Harry grimaced as he retold his history.

He paused thoughtfully. "Need to find the veggies." He muttered before spinning to the fridge and continuing his story. "Thanks to an interfering old man I was placed with my mother's sister's family." He said as he began pulling potatoes, parsnips and carrots out of the fridge.

"They hated my mother and her husband and me by extension. But they hated magic and my abilities more."

Harry stood and dropped an armful of vegetables on the counter. "I spent ten years living in a tiny cupboard under the stairs. I was forced to work as a slave"

He began peeling, cleaning and dicing the potatoes. "As you can probably guess, I didn't have a happy childhood. Due to my only human contact resulting in abuse I didn't do well with others. When I eventually turned eleven I was invited to a school of magic. I only managed to make two good friends.

"Eleven years old and I can only make two friends? Pitiful." Harry spat… just not over the food.

"Anyway… long story short… I killed the bad guy and got sent nearly two hundred years into the future. I save a couple of billion people from slavery and people think I am some exalted leader.

"I am _not_ an exalted leader." He scowled as he poured oil into a pan two thirds of the way full. "I am just a young man who is forced to fight, tries to do the right thing, usually pisses people off (pardon my French), and just wants to live a private life."

He placed the pan of oil on the hob and set the heat high so it would boil. Then he began quartering the potatoes and parsnips.

"But you _are_ an exalted leader, Harry." Shepard said calmly. "You didn't choose to lead and that is what makes you so qualified for the job… so deserving."

"I spent most of my life from the age of eleven to eighteen trying to stay alive whilst that bastard and his followers tried to kill me. All the while I was ridiculed and abused by my family and the rest of the magical community _despite_ the fact that I was the only one standing between the bastard and them.

"So then I arrive on Rannoch… in what can only be described as the most horrific way possible… and I am told I am part of a _new_ war.

"Granted, the geth didn't want me to fight a war… they just wanted me to try and negotiate peace so they could rejoin the quarians. But then I meet that idiot and I am suddenly conscripted into a fight against a race of genocidal, immortal machines!" He said as he jabbed a knife in Shepard's direction.

"Somewhere along the way the geth began looking at me like a… beacon. I do the only thing a person _should_ do when I learnt about the slaves and I find I am hoisted into the position of 'Galactic Leader'!"

Harry sighed as he pushed the pan of oil, now drenching the potatoes and parsnips into, the oven to let the veggies get deep-fried.

"A little known fact, something that the asari, turians, salarians and even _humans_ want to keep quiet, is that seventy percent of the families of the Liberated that returned home have left their native governments and have applied for citizenship with the Free Peoples.

"And there are more and more coming each day!"

"The only thing I want to do is marry Tali and buy a house. According to Sha'ira I may never use it… but at least it will be mine." Harry said wistfully.

Harry tensed as a pair of slender arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind.

"You poor boy." June said quietly. "If I have anything to say about it then you will definitely get that house." She said as she turned him around and hugged him. She had a good inch on him.

"Erm… thanks."

"And if things don't work out with Tali… I have four beautiful and caring daughters."

"Mom!" Came the outraged cry from the Williams Sisters.

* * *

><p>"What?" Grunt asked irritably.<p>

The cause of his irritation was a young boy who was maybe ten years old. He was staring up at the large krogan who was seated on the burnt out husk of one of the Cerberus vehicles as he tore into a roasted leg of beef.

The _entire_ leg.

All around them the neighbourhood was out and enjoying a barbeque whilst the geth quickly put the street to rights after the battle.

"You were dead." The boy frowned.

"I got better." Grunt deadpanned.

"You can't get better if you're dead." The boy said with authority. "My mom died and she couldn't get better." There was no sadness… but definite anger.

"Two things boy, one: you're mom weren't a krogan. Two: she probably didn't have geth nanites to help her." Grunt finished by tearing another chunk of meat off his bone.

"Why not? Why do you have them and not my mom?" He demanded.

"Probably because they weren't created when she died." Grunt shrugged.

The boy saw the logic in this. "Where can I get some?" He asked quietly.

Grunt paused with his food hovering in front of his mouth. He lowered it slowly. "Why would a young human boy be worried about dying? Is someone trying to kill you?" Grunt asked seriously. Children where very precious to the krogan… the genophage saw to that.

"Not for me." He shook his head vigorously. "For my dad. He's a soldier. Soldiers can die. I don't want him to die." He said resolutely.

"Alliance?" Wrex asked. "Is he an Alliance soldier?" He elaborated at the boy's confused look.

The boy nodded.

* * *

><p>"Hello father."<p>

A lone suited quarian in a confinement cell, much like the one Admiral Xen was in, looked up. "Tali? Thank the Ancestors you are alright." He breathed as he rushed to the now transparent wall separating him from his daughter.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked curiously.

"Tali, as much as the Admiralty wanted to keep the Flotilla ignorant of what was occurring in the galaxy, they could not hide it from themselves. As an Admiral myself I was privy to much information." He explained calmly.

"I am well aware that you have been travelling around the galaxy with a Spectre of all things. I was terrified when I heard you went up against Saren and now the Collectors."

"What about the geth?" She asked suspiciously. "What about the fact that I have geth in me?"

Admiral Zorah threw back his head and laughed.

"What? What is funny?" Tali scowled.

"Have you checked my science ship? That Alarei?" He asked as he calmed his breathing, though still clearly laughing.

"The geth took care of the Flotilla ships. They landed them all on Camala in the Kite's Nest. It's a batarian world." She shrugged.

"Ask your friends, the geth, to send you the visual records from the ship and then come back and talk to me, daughter." Admiral Zorah waved her off, still chuckling.

Tali turned and walked off as the wall turned opaque again. She only needed to travel a few metres to where Shiala was waiting patiently.

"You heard?"

"The geth are downloading and transferring the files now. I swear they were laughing as well." Shiala scowled.

"It almost sounds like my father is going to claim to be a geth sympathiser." Tali frowned. "He was still asking me to send him geth parts and salvage even after Rannoch was re-settled."

"Did you?" Shiala asked curiously.

"The geth kept handing me packages addressed to my father! I thought it was one of Harry's jokes." She explained.

"It _does_ sound like something Master would do." Shiala rolled her eyes. "The real question is whether he was trying to anger your father or make him see reason."

Shiala's omni-took beeped signalling the transfer was complete.

She quickly ran the videos.

"Are we sure these files have been authenticated?" Tali asked as she eyed the recording dubiously.

"It was sent by the geth." Shiala said as though that was all the authentication they needed. To be honest she wasn't quite sure what to make of what she was seeing.

"This has Harry's fingerprints all over it." Tali growled.

"Tali, aside from making the decision to neutralise the Admiralty and take control of the Flotilla, Harry swore he wasn't going to get involved. There has been someone with him at all times since he made the decision." Shiala reasoned.

"We both know he can send his digital presence across the galaxy and no one but the geth would know." Tali argued.

"Geth, can you explain what happened?" Shiala asked out loud, knowing the security cameras would pick up her voice.

"Potter Emissary insisted that the geth lead and coordinate the campaign on the Migrant Fleet." Came the synthetic voice. "Potter Emissary had no contact with the geth or Flotilla in regards to the campaign after he gave the order."

Tali still couldn't believe what she was seeing and turned on her armoured heel and marched back to her father's cell.

"You really expect me to believe that you spent the past few weeks playing _poker_ with the geth?" She demanded as the wall turned transparent.

Rael'Zorah scowled. "That wasn't playing. That was losing. It was only after my fourth hand that they explained the concept of bluffing. How are you supposed to bluff against an AI?" He demanded.

"We instituted our own rules and did not monitor your own body language." Came the synthetic reply over the speakers.

"You can still calculate the odds!" Rael argued with the ceiling. "My ability with numbers is nothing to scoff at but I am nowhere near on par with a computer!"

"We have discovered that chance is still a significant part of the game." The geth reasoned. "We often lose to players with more experience."

"You're arguing… with the geth… about _poker_?" Tali asked in disbelief.

Rael suddenly remembered his position as a prisoner and his daughter's presence. "Oh… well it is your fault." He shrugged.

"My fault?!"

"All those parts you sent me. We reassembled them and they turned out to be fully functioning geth. They took minutes to hack the ship's systems and take control. We were quickly outnumbered and outgunned.

"They herded us into the mess hall and… started dealing cards."

"Where would they get a human deck of cards?"

"I have no idea, Tali. All I know is that they insisted on teaching us how to play poker. They kept saying it was how humans learnt about each other." He said tiredly.

"It's been a long day, Tali. Would you mind if I got some sleep? I'm sure I will still be here tomorrow." He said as he looked around the cell.

"I won't be here. I am headed out on the Utah with the First Fleet to meet up with Harry and Shepard. We are taking the fight to the Collectors."

"Harry? Potter?" Rael was suddenly very awake. "I want to meet this… Emissary." He said sternly.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"He thinks he can just claim you as his mate without asking me?! Absolutely not!" Rael said imperiously.

Tali stared at him with an open mouth. It took her a few seconds to restart her brain. "Geth, make sure he isn't released until I get back. In the meantime… ask the Alliance to send a mind doctor to check on my father."

* * *

><p>"Come on guys! You've got to let me leave with you!"<p>

"Chief says you have to sit this one out Pyjack." Grunt rumbled.

"There will be plenty of battles to fight yet, Jennifer." She couldn't help but grimace at hearing Tank call her that. She knew they wanted to kill off 'Jack' but she couldn't imagine being called 'Jennifer' on the battlefield.

"If you can't call me 'Jack'… call me 'Pyjack' like Grunt." She sighed defeatedly.

Grunt smiled widely. "You are Krantt. Chief Harry and Overlord Wrex are making family the focus of the Krogan way of life. You must protect your family. Chief Harry says you will be able to join us after the Collectors are finished.

"If there is time before we face the Reapers we will go to Tuchanka and petition Overlord Wrex and Chief Potter to let you undertake the Rite of Passage. Then you will be our family as well. We will fight together in many glorious battles!" He said passionately.

"But I still have to sit out the Collectors?"

"Patience, Pyjack." Tank patted her firmly on the back… which meant he nearly drove her to her knees. "Focus on your mother and sister and then you will be ready to join the clan."

At that point the Utah swept down low onto the street, just above the houses causing the neighbours to worry for a moment.

Harry leapt out of the airlock and dropped more than fifty feet using his biotics to prevent a repeat of Rannoch and Alchera.

"Boys, we have to leave now." He said quickly as he initiated a lift with his biotics that made the three float up towards the hovering ship. "Jennifer, we'll be back. Be ready for us." He nodded to her.

It took seconds for the three to board the ship and then soar out of the atmosphere.

Jennifer scowled and marched back into the house past her mother and sister who had come to the door like their neighbours when the Utah had arrived.

In the kitchen was a white geth platform. There were still hundreds around the neighbourhood but this was currently the only one that was active and occupied.

"Hey! Why did they bug out like that?" She demanded.

The platform had a full face like most of the newer platforms along with a working mouth.

"Potter Emissary received word that Shepard Captain was in danger from the Alliance government. Shepard Captain's mission was deemed too important. They left to avoid confrontation."


	35. Chapter 35

"Stupid… idiotic… see how you like some hanar on krogan action."

Harry was pacing back and forth in the Conference Room with the rest of the team looking on warily.

"What set him off?" Jacob asked Miranda quietly.

"Yeah… that's right… every telemarketer in the galaxy has your number now asshole!"

The evil grin on Harry's face as he muttered to himself was slightly worrying.

"I have no idea… I'm just hoping it wasn't me." She admitted.

The door opened and Shepard and Liara marched in.

"Good news, bad news situation people." Shepard announced. "The good news is that EDI and the fleet are back in shape and better than ever. We are en route to the Omega 4 Relay right now. We have _two_ Collector Ships in the fleet along with the Normandy, Utah, Tiger-Lilly and Dog Star.

"When we head through the Relay we will be at our best."

"Yeah, that's right. That's a turian dominatrix at your door you smarmy bastard."

Shepard sighed at Harry's personal, semi-private rant. "The bad news," he gestured to Harry, "is that the Alliance has got it in their heads to prosecute me for the events in the Bahak system.

"They feel the need to charge me under Citadel Law for tampering with the Mass Relay."

"Aren't you above the law as a Spectre?" Jacob asked.

"He's right." Garrus nodded. "The only thing they can achieve is pissing the Council off by interfering with their operatives."

"They have Council backing." Liara spoke up from Shepard's side. "Escheel has decided to put her signature on a warrant to investigate Spectre Shepard. It only takes one Councillor to do that."

"Bet you didn't know you were a life long member of the John Shepard Hentai club, did you? You mother-less son of a squib?"

Shepard paled as he heard Harry muttering angrily. "For god's sake Tali, would you do something about him?"

"I wouldn't bother appealing to her." Shiala smirked. "She's the one helping him. He's taking this political attack on you personally. He is currently harassing the individuals involved via electronic methods."

"What will this mean in the long term fight against the Reapers?" Thane asked calmly. "Once we have completed our campaign against the Collectors, will we need to work outside Citadel Space to prepare for the Reapers?"

"Tuchanka will welcome us." Grunt said proudly. "There is no doubt that the same can be said of the Emissary's Free People. The Alliance and the Citadel would be foolish to try and take Shepard from our protection."

"Thank you Grunt, but after the Collectors are dealt with we will be heading back to Earth so I can face my accusers."

"What?!" Ashley said loudly as she stood up. "What sort of bullshit is that?"

"The type where Harry gets to verbally rip people to shreds in that unique way of his." Shepard smirked.

"Oh." Ashley said non-plussed. Then she got her own evil grin. "I call dibs on the seat next to you."

"Would somebody please try and get Harry and Tali's attention?" Shepard rolled his eyes as he could hear Harry muttering away whilst Tali stood there staring into space.

"I've got it Shep." Kasumi said as she pushed away from the wall and walked up to the couple.

"Please… anyone else." Thane begged quietly.

Kasumi took one look at Harry who was still pacing before turning to Tali. She grabbed the purple skinned woman's face with both hands and planted a passionate kiss on her lips.

Tali had no idea what was going on.

Someone was kissing her. It didn't feel like Harry… but no one else would be stupid enough to try… not with Harry, Shiala, Ashley and… the whole crew standing there.

Plus it was kind of nice.

She opened her eyes and nearly rolled them as she saw Kasumi's dark lined eyes in front of her… still kissing her passionately.

The lights around the room began to flicker.

"_ALERT! All geth units are experiencing a system glitch."_ EDI announced.

"Don't worry, this happened the first time Tali kissed Harry." Shiala smirked as she saw her master staring at the kissing women with an open mouth. "They'll be back up soon."

Shepard just sighed. "Meeting adjourned. We'll try again later."

* * *

><p>The trip to the Omega 4 Relay took several days.<p>

Most of that time was spent by Harry trying to make the lives certain politicians difficult whilst keeping an eye on Tali and Kasumi, to see if they would kiss again.

Tali spent most of her time trying to fend off the advances of Kasumi who kept trying to corner her for some more 'personal time'.

Most of this occurred in Engineering where Tali would try and hide.

Gabby would then have to spend _her_ time hitting Kenneth for not paying attention to his work in favour of watching Tali and Kasumi.

Chief Adams, who was assigned as the Chief Engineer for the fleet, had to make a trip to the Utah to give Kenneth, Gabby, Tali and Kasumi a dressing down for inappropriate behaviour around expensive and dangerous equipment.

Tali was so embarrassed as she dragged Kasumi back to the tent. She barely noticed Harry and Shiala sitting on the couch.

"Alright, this has _got _to stop!" Tali rounded on the other woman. "It is bad enough you keep trying to kiss me around the ship… but engineering is off limits!"

"You have got to loosen up Tali." Kasumi rolled her eyes as she pulled her hood back to reveal her hair in a bun. She pulled at a hair pin and shook her head as her long, straight, black hair cascaded down her back to reach her rear. "We are about to enter the mouth of hell… we should have all the fun we can get."

"We should be preparing every second we have!" Tali countered.

"We've been preparing for the past couple of months. We've fought so many battles together and lived in such close quarters that we know each other as well as we know ourselves!" Kasumi grinned as she moved closer causing Tali to scowl and back up. "Considering this mission has been classified as a 'suicide mission', we should consider this our last chance… our last meal… I know what I want from the menu."

Tali found herself falling onto the sofa… or more specifically Harry, as she was backed up.

She wasn't able to stand before a grinning Kasumi had straddled her whilst she was still sitting on Harry's lap.

She was very aware that Harry was 'appreciative' of what was happening in front of him… and on him, as she wriggled in his lap.

"For someone who claims to have only been with one person, you sure seem to like throwing yourself at people." Harry said with a raised eyebrow over Tali's shoulder as he wrapped his arms comfortably around her waist.

"Keiji was amazing. Passionate, smart, handsome… virile." She said with pleasure-induced shudder at fond memories. "But he always encouraged me to go for what I want. I know what I want and I don't give up easily. Especially when I can see that you are both interested."

Harry's eyes snapped to the back of Tali's head in surprise. "Tali?"

Unfortunately for Harry… Tali wriggled slightly in embarrassment.

That's not to say it was painful… just unhelpful to his concentration.

"Master, if I might make a suggestion?" Shiala sighed… though she had an amused smile on her face.

"Make it quick." Harry squeaked as Tali turned a darker shade of purple and Kasumi just leaned in closer looking like the cat that got the cream.

"Let the four of us adjourn to your bedroom where we can fully express our love for each other."

The younger three looked at Shiala in shock.

"Love?" Kasumi sounded like she was trying to blow off the suggestion.

"I've seen the way you look longingly at Harry and Tali when you think no one is looking." She gave a kind smile. "There is a mutual attraction… but you are in love with them. Given a chance, it could grow into something beautiful. We asari are much more in tune with these sorts of things.

"Of course it would help if Master was able to express himself better." She sighed.

"What about Tali?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"Tali and I have become close. Our own relationship could go either way with little effort." She shrugged. "I believe that could easily translate to you as well."

The three hundred year old asari looked at the two humans and the quarian thoughtfully. "I suppose I can understand it from Harry and Tali's point of view. Monogamy is the basis of their culture. Most other cultures are also like that. With asari though… we live longer than all but the krogan. We don't really mate for life, or more specifically the life span of our mates.

"My previous husband died when I was only one hundred and fifty-three. Alec was a wonderful man who managed to last fifty-seven years. We were together for ten. My heart broke when he died and it took me ten years to pull myself together before I joined the asari military and became a commando.

"Whilst I never found someone to love during that time, I found comfort in the arms of my sisters and they found comfort in mine."

"Shiala, whilst that is a beautiful story… just strip them and have some fun." The quartet turned to see Shepard and Ashley standing at the entrance to the tent. Ashley was smirking whilst Shepard stood behind her, embarrassed to have overheard. "Just make sure Harry locks his bedroom door." She said as she pulled a blushing Shepard through the living area.

* * *

><p>It was later the next day that a fairly bedraggled Harry, Kasumi and Tali slumped weakly into the mess hall and dropped tiredly into their chairs.<p>

"Well don't you three look... _wrung dry_." Ashley grinned evilly.

"They look exhausted." Liara frowned. "Should you go and see Dr. Chakwas?"

"Liara… you're one of my closest friends." Harry said slowly. "But you asari are… are…"

"Absolute freaks in the bedroom." Kasumi muttered.

Harry pointed at the woman on his left and nodded. "That."

"That seems fairly unkind- Tali? You too?!" She asked as she saw the quarian nodding slowly.

"Harry and I can be… energetic and inventive in the bedroom." She admitted with a blush as she kept her voice low. "But Shiala… "

"The things she did with those biotics." Kasumi whispered. She almost sounded like a traumatised war vet. She stood up suddenly only for Harry to pull her back down.

"She only just fell asleep." He frowned. "We are only doing that one more time before we hit the relay. She completely wiped herself out."

"Not to mention the rest of us." Tali muttered as she shifted in her seat.

"Harry, go amuse yourself with the boys." Ashley ordered. "I need to borrow Tali and Kasumi. I need to know what happened last night." She grinned.

"But I'm hungry." Kasumi whined.

"Harry has food in the tent."

Kasumi thought about that for a moment. "Fine, but the second Shiala wakes up I am done."

* * *

><p>Joker bugged Harry continuously about what Shiala had actually done to them.<p>

Unfortunately, Shepard and Garrus were also curious.

He refused to answer any questions though.

He was saved by EDI announcing their arrival in the Sahrabarik System in the Omega Nebula.

"All right people. We all know the plan." Shepard said as he addressed the fleet from the Galaxy Map. "Our two Collector Cruisers will be bulldozing their way through whatever we find on the other side of the Relay. The rest of the fleet will be travelling via stealth to the Collector Base.

"Lieutenant Commander Alenko will lead his team to rescue any colonists they can whilst the rest of us find this… 'Human Reaper'." He said in disgust. "Are there any last questions?"

"What will Harry be doing?" Garrus asked curiously. The Emissary's name had been conspicuously absent from the team rosters.

"What Harry does best." He replied with an air that said the topic was closed.

"Emissary, with your permission, I will start the mission." Shepard turned to Harry respectfully. There was one thing that Shepard was aware of that he felt was important: He led the _Emissary's_ First Fleet.

Harry just raised a curious eyebrow and shrugged. "Sure. Let's go end this. One final thing though… see Collector, kill Collector." He said seriously. "Leave none alive."

It wasn't a sentiment that sat well with some like Kaiden and Jacob who where more in line with human war policies where it was illegal to 'give no quarter'. But they understood the necessity. You couldn't reason with the Collectors. They were simply husks.

* * *

><p>In the middle of the galactic core, the relay that the Collectors used to access the Omega 4 Relay practically exploded in light and fire as the Emissary's First Fleet entered the Omega 4 Relay whilst it was still in the depths of the sun.<p>

The individual vessels carried some of the heat and fuel of the sun as they were transported. The fleet had been upgraded with hulls that could withstand the heat of the sun even with kinetic barriers down.

Their arrival was not stealthy.

That said; the smaller vessels were able to hide in the shadows of the appropriated Collector Cruisers until the superheated residue dissipated enough to initiate stealth systems and they broke off.

The entire system was filled with the debris of previous ships that had attempted to traverse the Omega 4 Relay.

The appropriated cruisers simply ploughed through as though it wasn't even there.

"_I'm picking up three contacts heading this way, Captain."_ EDI announced. _"They match Collector Cruiser profiles."_

"Can you confirm their trajectory for us specifically or the fleet?" Shepard asked.

"_At present we are still too close to the cruisers to be more accurate."_

"You goddamned magnificent bastards." Harry muttered.

Shepard looked at the young man who could easily be called his closest friend, his brother even. There was a tear rolling down his cheek and both eyes were welled up… but there was a smile on his face.

"Harry? What is it?" He asked with concern.

"Open up the QEC." Harry said as he continued to stare into the distance. "Better yet… look out the damned window."

Shepard rushed to the cockpit. "Joker, Harry says there is something out…"

"Holy Mary Mother of God." Joker muttered in awe. "Is that what I think it is?"

Behind the approaching Collector Cruisers a huge mass of debris the size of a very large asteroid had begun splitting in two like a shell.

Inside was a barely visible geth dreadnought.

"They survived… they actually survived!" Shepard gave a laugh of near disbelief. "EDI, create a QEC connection to that dreadnought."

"_Connection established. The line is open for data and voice."_

"This is Captain Shepard of the Emissary's First Fleet calling the geth dreadnought. Do you read me?"

"_Affirmative, Shepard Captain. This is geth dreadnought designation 'Ark'."_

Joker and Shepard shared a look of concern. The geth didn't name things that way.

"_Previous designation: 24BD90"_

That sounded more like the geth.

"Geth dreadnought, what happened to the other ships you arrived with?"

"_They were sacrificed to ensure the survival of this vessel. This vessel carries precious cargo. It requires immediate evacuation from this sector of space."_ There was a hint of urgency there.

"Geth dreadnought, our mission is to destroy the Collectors. Are you able to assist in anyway?"

There was a long pause.

"_We can."_ Came the straightforward reply. _"We will require transfer of precious cargo before we can assist."_

"This is the Emissary." Harry said with a dangerous grin as he marched into the cockpit. "Continue on course and aide the two Collector Cruisers heading your way. They are under our control. We will eliminate the enemy vessels, transfer your cargo to one of our Cruisers and then allow it to retreat from the system."

"_Confirmed."_

Immediately the dreadnought began firing all of it's weapons onto the nearest of the three enemy ships.

"This is Shepard. All ships open fire." He turned to Harry. "Do you know what their 'precious cargo' is?"

"The same cargo I failed to save." Harry smiled proudly. "Those boys saved the colonists."

"How did they survive out here on their own?"

"They apparently employed my favourite tactic: Stealth." Harry grinned. "They managed to hide the dreadnought and then fired platforms at the base. The units were able to infiltrate the base and free the colonists."

"So we don't have to worry about civilians in the crossfire?"

"We could nuke the place from space."

Shepard sighed wistfully. "I wish. We need to see this 'human reaper' and see if we can't hack their systems. We need more intel on the Reapers. We need to make sure that this is the _only_ Collector Base. I would hate to find out that there is another base we missed which is making a turian or asari reaper."

"Just one more Cruiser left Captain." Joker reported.

"What's our damage?"

"The Dog Star has the most damage. It was playing interference for the rest of the fleet. The Normandy has a few minor injuries but they are fully functional.

"Our cruisers are undamaged. Their shields held up."

"And the dreadnought?" Shepard asked.

"No damage. They caught the Collectors off-guard and were able to drop the Collector's shields… the third Collector cruiser is disabled… it just blew." Joker said as he monitored the situation.

"Have Cruiser B dock with the geth dreadnaught. As soon as the cargo is transferred have them make for the relay at top speed." Shepard ordered. "This is Shepard to the Normandy. Kaiden, do you copy?"

"_Affirmative Captain. We read you loud and clear."_ Came the Commander's voice.

"Damage reports say you have a few injuries?"

"_Just a few blown monitors and power conduits that resulted in some burns, Captain. The injured should be back at station in less than an hour."_

"Good. New orders, Commander. The geth dreadnaught is transferring precious cargo to Cruiser B. Once they are done I want you and the Dog Star to escort the cruiser to the Relay. That should hopefully give you time to make repairs before you return to the mission."

There was a short pause. _"Understood Captain." _It was clear that Kaiden was unhappy with being sidelined, but at the same time he understood the situation. _"Just try not to hog all the fun, Sir."_

"I'm sure we'll be able to find a nice mess for you to come and rescue us from, Commander." Shepard smirked. "Shepard out." He signed off.

* * *

><p>Transferring the colonists seemed to be fairly easy.<p>

The geth had revived several of the colonist's leaders from stasis only to be reminded of Ashley's warnings on Horizon… the colonists were practically xenophobic and tried to take over and order the geth around.

The geth had then employed their own methods of stasis just to keep the idiots out of their hair.

This meant that the geth simply had to push the colonists from one ship to the other in their Collector stasis pods.

Whilst this was happening the crew of the Utah where landing on the Collector Base.

They were backed up by over two hundred geth platforms and nearly five hundred battle eager krogan.

Unlike the previous missions where Shepard's team would take the lead and the geth and krogan would follow behind, this time the krogan were first off the ships.

Whilst intelligence was important, destroying the Collectors was even more so. The krogan were merciless as they literally stormed through the base, annihilating anything that stood in their way.

The krogan lived for battle. They believed it was better to meet your opponent head on then sneak up behind him and stab him in the back.

But that didn't mean they wouldn't take any opportunity and advantage to win.

Which in this case meant geth nanites. Every time a krogan went down they were left where they lay.

By the time the horde had passed by they were back on their feet and trying to make their way back to the front.

"Are we even needed on this mission?" Garrus wondered as the team headed down the corridors that were empty aside from the Collector corpses.

"The krogan are warriors." Samara answered. "They will fight until there is nothing left to fight, but even during the rachni wars they saw no point in collecting intelligence. Vital missions where always led by either an asari, turian or salarian special ops team who would complete the mission objective whilst the krogan decimated the soldiers."

"_Alert: Krogan forces have encountered an area filled with high levels of seeker swarms."_ Came the geth radio announcement. _"Area holds quickest route to suspected human-reaper area."_

"We didn't think they would actually use those on the base." Miranda mused.

"Recent missions and successes by team must have changed their tactics." Mordin postulated. "With so many successful attacks on Collectors they must know we would come for them."

"Alright… Jacob, take Legion and Samara. Find the source of the swarms and destroy them." Shepard ordered. "Geth, tell the krogan to take the long way round and continue to eliminate the Collectors. The rest of us will head through the swarm."

"Seeker swarms appear to be too concentrated for current counter-measures to be effective." Mordin warned as he checked his omni-tool.

"Most of us are biotics. We've all been training. We'll take turns in erecting a barrier as we progress." Shepard explained.

"I'll go last then." Ashley decided. "My barrier abilities aren't all that good and I wear out quickly."

"I can handle the first section." Liara offered. "My biotics are strong but my combat is weak. I will push my abilities until I can hold it no more."

"Emissary, what do you think?" Shepard asked the young wizard.

"We will be vulnerable to attack… but it is the most expedient route."

"We have a plan then, people. Let's make it happen." Shepard instructed.

* * *

><p>Harry's main objective was to gather intel.<p>

He had left the Utah long before the other's had landed. He used every bit of stealth he had to creep past swarms of seekers, patrols of Collectors and the odd gathering of husks.

But he never touched them.

He never left any traps.

He couldn't risk being found out.

Which was why the geth were currently controlling his duplicate synthetic body so the Collectors wouldn't realise he was sneaking around like this.

He couldn't control it himself in case the Collectors detected the transmission signals.

Whilst the krogan, geth and the rest of the team headed through the hallways and corridors, Harry walked along the outside surface of the base.

So far, all his forays onto Collector ships had been to eliminate the Collector General and take control of the ship.

This time there was a slight change to the plans… this time he was going to try and capture the General.

A lot of his mission was guesswork. He had the intel from the geth dreadnought that gave him some suggestions about where the Collector General would be but nothing concrete.

The intel turned out to be wrong.

What he found was the abomination known as 'The Human-Reaper'. It made him sick. He desperately wanted to rip it down and destroy it but he and Shepard had discussed his role and Shepard had made it clear that they needed more intel on the Reapers. A living Collector General would be a chance for interrogation.

He didn't know how far behind him Shepard was but he reluctantly left the area without taking any action. He still had his target to acquire.

* * *

><p>The team had passed through the swarm using a combination of biotic barriers and fire.<p>

Lots and lots of fire.

Inferno mods had been applied to all weapons and Grunt and Tank had broken out a pair of geth flame thrower units and they had led the way… burning everything in their path.

And a majority of stuff that wasn't.

They then had to travel on some of those floating platforms that the Collectors seemed to use to travel around. They boarded the hexagon shaped vehicles only to find themselves targeted by husks and Collectors on other platforms.

It really wasn't much of a fight.

"The Pyjack will be upset when she hears about this!" Grunt grinned as he stepped back from the edge of one of the moving platforms having just charged one of the many Scions over the edge.

"And you will take great pleasure in telling her and making her upset, brother." Tank sighed as he cocked his still smoking shotgun.

Grunt turned to face his brother as he absently backhanded the last of the husks over the edge. "I understand and respect what Chief Harry is attempting, but she will always be a warrior. Once she has forged her familial connections she will need to train to maintain her edge.

"Already she is going soft." He said with a hint of disgust. "When we sparred she held back… I could feel it."

"The human mind doctors may try to interfere with her instincts." Tank mused. "But I have been talking to her via QEC. She retains the thirst for battle. She seems to have begun to grow attachments to her mother… she tries to relate to her sister but she clearly sees her as another Miranda Lawson."

"Boys, if you are finished with your discussion we are ready to move on." The two turned to see Ashley smirking at them with the rest of the team just staring at them.

"I swear… if they start discussing philosophy…" Garrus trailed off in disbelief.

"Should we discuss the effects of the sealing of the Temple Palaven and the exile of the Valluvian Priests?" Tank asked with a calm innocence.

Garrus was unable to form words.

"Bah! Turning from your beliefs and condemning those who don't… speaks of a lack of commitment and too much ego." Grunt said dismissively as he lumbered past.

Liara sighed as she gently guided Garrus so that they were following the others.

He was broken from his stupor as they entered the large chamber ahead.

Their intended destination: The Human-Reaper.

"Has _any_ species known by the Citadel tried to do something as… disgusting as this?" Shepard asked as they stared at the multi-storey tall skeletal being.

Its base structure was metallic, it looked like a fleshless creature. But there was no doubting what was being pumped into it via the tubes attached to its arms.

"Not that I can think of." Liara said as she too stared at the thing in disgust.

"I don't think that even Cerberus tried anything this depraved." Miranda shook her head.

"Garrus, take Mordin and Tank. Follow the tubes to the right and find their source… then destroy it.

"Ash, take Tali and Shiala, do the same for the left tubes." Shepard ordered. "Everyone else prep your explosives. I want this thing reduced to atoms before we do the same to the base."

As the team began their preparations Shepard just stared at the creature that was hanging from the high ceiling of the chamber by its feeding tubes.

"I have studied the various species of the galaxy, I haven't found any that would do this." Grunt commented as he stood next to the Captain, his grenades and explosives were always ready.

"We've come close." Shepard shook his head. "Whilst most species wouldn't do anything like this, there have always been psychopaths and splinter cells. Take the Nazi's and the holocaust in the twentieth century, what about the salarians and turians with the genophage?

"Even closer to home is Okeer and what he did to his own people."

"But no 'species' would condone this." Grunt pushed the point. "The Reapers are a species and if the Chief is right, all of them are behind this."

"I suppose it could be worse." Shepard sighed.

"It is." Grunt said as he switched his shotgun for his assault rifle. "That thing is moving." He said, his eyes never leaving the hulking monstrosity.

"Son of a-"

* * *

><p>The room was strewn with the remains of Collectors.<p>

The dismembered limbs were everywhere.

There was one collection of limbs that were currently still attached to their owner.

That owner was the Collector General. He was suspended in the air in the very same prothean security device that the team had discovered Liara T'Soni in all that time ago.

He was glaring down at the human who was currently sitting in his console chair.

Harry was grinning up at him. It was a fairly horrifying sight as there was a large gash across his left cheek that was slowly healing and he was cradling the stump of his left leg that had been severed just above the knee.

"You know… the girls are going to kill me when they finally come and collect me." He said as he continued to smile. "I have this annoying habit of losing limbs. At least this time I can finally turn off my nerve endings." He said with some relief.

"_**This defeat is meaningless." **_

Harry knew that voice. It was the voice of a Reaper. It was the voice of Harbinger.

"We've defeated Nazara, the Collectors… you aren't invulnerable." Harry said. "All these millennia that you've stomped all over races that got too advanced… you should have realised that the probabilities of one of those races being able to take you out existed."

"_**We are eternal. We have no beginning and we have no-"**_

"Oh give it a rest." Harry sighed. "I know exactly who, when and how you were created. I took all of Nazara's knowledge." He told the possessed Collector. "I know all about the Leviathans, I know how you were modelled on them and how you betrayed them."

"_**Irrelevant. You will fall before us just as your predecessors did."**_

"If that were true then we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?" Harry smirked. "You would already be here and I would be dead… or a husk."

"_**The cycle will continue-"**_

"The cycle has already been broken." Harry interrupted. "We have cut you off from the Citadel and the Alpha Relay… we have neutered the virus you gave the heretics to use on the geth. You are just going to have to take the long route to get here." Harry leaned forward. "And make no mistake… we _are_ waiting for you."

"_**You are not the first to attempt to resist. The protheans-"**_

"I. Don't. Care." Harry enunciated with a shrug as he sat back. He moved to cross his legs before he remembered he was missing half of one. "Every race that came before the current ones tried and failed… yes. But unlike all of them, we have something they didn't."

"_**Your minds are weak. Your intellect is small compared to ours. There is nothing you can create that we cannot counter."**_

Harry just grinned. "Too late." He fired a stunner at the suspended Collector causing it to fall unconscious.

* * *

><p>"Miranda! Liara! Focus on shielding!" Shepard roared as he took cover behind one of the many stone benches in the reaper larvae chamber.<p>

"What's the state of those feeding tubes?" He demanded over the radio.

"_Working on it!"_ Came Garrus' harried voice as the background was filled with weapon's fire.

"_We can't do any direct damage from here."_ Tali reported. _"The tubes go through several thick walls. We can blow up the reservoir tanks but it won't have any real effect on the larvae itself."_

"_I concur. With more time and equipment we could sabotage the feed system. At this time our presence here is useless." _Mordin confirmed.

"Then blow it up and get back here. This thing is demolishing the ground we are standing on!"

"_This is Taylor. We've disabled the swarms manufacturing plants and are making our way back to you."_

"_Alenko here. We have landed and are heading through now. There is no resistance so we should only be a few minutes out."_

"Thank the gods and goddesses." Thane muttered.

"I thought they'd never arrive." Kasumi snorted.

"Make it quick or there won't be anything left for you to rescue!" Shepard barked over the radio.

"_Ladies and gentlemen… and whatever the hell our asari friends are calling themselves these days… the cavalry will arrive in fifteen seconds on my mark. Please ensure your helmets are on and your seals are secure._

"_Oh… and you might want to duck._

"_Mark!"_

At the sound of Harry's calm mocking voice everyone's eyes widened in worry or shock. Except for Liara whose eyes narrowed as she contemplated ways of 'correcting' her young friend.

"Everybody hit the deck!" Shepard roared.

Seconds later a whistling sound was heard along with a scraping sound that travelled towards them from the way they had entered. As it reached a peak the Stingray came flying through the entrance with its wings lit up as it carved its way through the narrower parts of the ship.

It was travelling at such a speed that for a second the team was dragged forward by the draft caused by the passing craft before being thrown back by the force of the explosion as it slammed into the human-reaper larvae.

"Everybody out!" Shepard shouted as the crime against nature slumped lifelessly to the ground and fire burned around it.

* * *

><p>The trip from the larvae chamber to the main control centre of the base was filled with the glares and mutterings of several of the females.<p>

Grunt and Garrus found the whole thing amusing.

Harry hadn't told them about his injuries but the post-battle report on casualties from the geth explained it all. They were already prepping Dr. Chakwas' med bay with a replacement set of leg bones.

There were a few casualties but no fatalities. The destroyed geth platforms had detachable storage units that acted as life-boats for the geth. They were heavily reinforced to survive re-entry and were built like a mini Stingray… they could fly back to base once the platform became inoperable. This was necessary due to the geth's forced self-isolation in response to the threat of the heretics and the Reaper virus. They couldn't just transmit themselves out.

The various krogan that had fallen during their part were already back up and exchanging tales with their brethren.

That just left Harry to deal with.

"He is one tough hombre… but I think this proves we aren't responsible for what happened when we first met chica." Vega commented to Kasumi as he watched the geth medical platforms prepare his severed leg for transport.

Kasumi responded with a glare followed up with a kick to the shin.

"Don't think the 'chica' agrees, Chief." Milque grinned as Kasumi stomped angrily over to Tali and Shiala.

Meanwhile, Harry was discussing the current situation with Shepard.

"The geth are just placing the explosives. We should be ready to leave in less than an hour." Shepard turned to look at the Collector General who was being wheeled out of the area in a stasis tube. "Just how cooperative is he going to be?"

"That would depend on how well veritiserum works on his species." Harry shrugged. "I have no intention of trying to hold a conversation with it. Once we have what we need and are finished with him we will either execute it or toss it in a hole till it dies."

Shepard frowned then shook his head as if to dispel his thoughts. "I keep thinking of it as a sentient being."

"It isn't really." Harry said sadly. "It isn't even really an ex-Prothean. It was born in a jar and created to serve. Unlike the geth or Grunt and Tank, they don't have the ability to evolve. The Reapers made sure of that."

"Potter Emissary, Shepard Captain, we are ready to move the Emissary." One of the geth reported.

"We're done here." Shepard nodded. "We'll all move out together."

* * *

><p>By the time the geth were finished with planting the demolition explosives, Chakwas was finished with Harry's leg. She had removed the severed skeletal bone and the stump of his upper tibia and replaced both with the spare parts that she always kept around for Harry.<p>

Something that everyone found creepy… but no one found surprising.

The severed skeletal bones were handed to the geth to return to Rannoch for testing. They needed to try and find a way to improve the durability of the substance it was made from so it could withstand an omni-blade type weapon.

Harry was back up in the conference room with the rest of the team as they were getting ready for detonation.

"Harry, as the official representative of the geth, I'd like to offer you the chance to end the threat of the Collectors." Shepard said as he stepped aside from the console being displayed on the table. "They have made the greatest of sacrifices for everyone and humanity owes them… pretty much everything."

Harry frowned as he walked up to the console and Shepard. The rest of the team was standing in the room and the meeting was being broadcast throughout the first fleet.

"The geth follow me. I follow Shepard. I'll go where he leads me." Harry said thoughtfully. "In this fight, John Shepard is our leader. This is his right and his duty." Harry gave the older man a small bow and stepped back.

"_Shepard, we are receiving an incoming signal on the QEC."_ EDI reported.

"It could be important… if it is about the Reapers or Collectors we might want to take the call first and then blow the base to pieces." Garrus warned.

Shepard nodded in agreement and stepped back. "Put them through EDI."

The rest of the team stepped back as the conference table slid away and the holographic image began to appear.

"Oh for the love of-"

"_Shepard. Congratulations."_ Harry's curse was cut short by the smarmy and condescending voice of Jack Harper. _"There was a reason I invested so-"_

"I really don't have time to listen to your hot air, _Jack_." Shepard said snidely. "Do you have something useful to say or should I just cut the feed?"

"_A little patience can go a long way John."_ Harper was treating him like a little boy.

Harry was not impressed… it was just how he remembered Voldemort. He began working away with the geth and EDI in his brain.

"_I understand that you are ready to destroy the Collector base. I was hoping you would be smarter than that."_ The condescension was slight but there. _"You are sitting on a treasure trove of technology and data that could be vital to winning the war against the Reapers… and you are just going to destroy it. Give me the IFF codes for the Omega 4 Relay and I will send my teams to work on it. Together we can raise humanity to its rightful place."_

"Pass." Shepard said simply.

"_Don't be a fool Shepard."_ Harper snarled. _"We need that information. Even if we were to defeat the Reapers without it the other races would steal the technology and use it to control us!"_

"You do realise that you are on par with the worst that humanity has ever produced, yes?" Harry asked from beside Shepard. "Hitler, Hussein, Bin Ladin, Stalin, Pot, Amin… I think you get the point."

"_I don't do this because I like it, Potter."_ Harper snarled. _"I do it because it is necessary!"_

"Didn't Hitler say the same thing?" Jacob spoke up.

"So did Pol Pot." Miranda agreed.

"Here's what you seem to have missed, Jack." Shepard stepped in. "This mission was accomplished only because of the team. A team made up of a bunch of humans three asari, one turian, two krogan, one salarian, one quarian, one drell several billion digital life forms and… most importantly… Harry Potter.

"The only reason I lead them is because they _chose_ to follow me. All you have managed to do is amass a personal enemy made up of every Citadel race and more than a few non-Citadel races.

"You are the minority Jack, you are a terrorist and _because _you are human, humans will lead the fight against you."

Harper glared hatefully at the entire group. "_There will come a time, soon, when these 'allies' of yours show their true colours and turn on you. When that time comes, people will remember you and they will remember me. They will hold me up as-"_

"An egotistical and delusional jerk." Harry sighed. "Listen Jack, you made a huge mistake contacting us. I've got ships en route to the comm. station you attacked to access our QECs." Jack scowled and made to move. "Wait!" Harry said loudly. "I tied the QEC into the holographic scanner on your end. If you leave it will trigger the destruction of the Collector Base."

Harper froze.

Harry smirked. "So here is the deal. If you stay there, preventing the destruction of the base and allowing yourself to be taken into custody, I will hand the base over to whatever is left of Cerberus.

"Or you can prove that you don't actually care about humanity and leave, blowing the base and proving that you only care for yourself.

"Your call."

Harper didn't bother questioning if Harry was lying. He knew there was a chance they would figure out which base he had attacked to access the QEC. You couldn't hack it so you had to use an existing pre-programmed connection.

He also knew not to question Harry's threat about his leaving causing the destruction of the base. It was definitely something he would do.

Of course… there was no way he would let himself get captured.

"_I _am_ Cerberus, Potter. The base is useless in anyone's hands but mine."_ With that he attempted to turn and walk away.

Only as he spun his image turned so that he was still facing Potter and Shepard.

He turned again to walk away.

The same thing happened.

A final act of humiliation as he was forced to walk forward towards the smirking face of Potter instead of showing him his back in contempt.

As Harper's image vanished it was replaced with the scene of the Collector Base detonating from the inside out.

"I don't know what was better… seeing that abomination blow up or you and Shepard tag teaming Harper." Ashley said with a satisfied smile as they watched.

"Lucky for us we got to see both." Kaiden stood tall and proud.

"Mission accomplished people." Shepard announced. "We have defeated and eliminated the Collector threat and confirmed that this was their only base."

Shepard was about to continue but Harry stepped in front of him, facing him. "Captain Shepard, do you still intend to present yourself before the human Alliance government regarding your actions in the Bahak System?" He asked formally.

Shepard frowned but gave a firm nod. "I do. We spent far too long at the beginning of this mission working with limited resources and allies because we were undercover. We have won this battle but the Reapers are still coming and we can't afford to have our hands tied. I need to go back to Earth and deal with these accusations."

Harry gave a short breath of annoyed air before he straightened. "Captain Shepard, Commander of the First Fleet of the Emissary, I hereby order you to accompany the geth dreadnought, designation The Ark, to Earth to return the colonists to human custody. You and your team may consider yourselves on leave until you are recalled for active duty."

Shepard snapped to attention and saluted.

"Make no mistake John, this fleet won't fly without you." Harry said as he relaxed his stance. "The majority of the Council will back you to the hilt… you are a lynch pin piece and the Councillors have agreed that when it comes to you, your freedom and the power and command you have, they will defy their governments to protect you."


	36. Chapter 36

"Captain John Shepard, you are under arrest for breach of Citadel Law and crimes against sentient life. Namely the destruction of the Bahak System and interfering with the state of a mass relay."

Rear Admiral Mikhailovich seemed almost smug as he recited the charges as Shepard led his team down the Normandy's ramp at the Alliance Naval HQ in Vancouver.

The rest of the team where scowling at the many cameras and reporters that were assembled around the landing pad. Shepard remained stoic as he allowed the team of Military Police (MP) to cuff him.

Harry pushed his way forward, grabbed the cuffs and snapped them. "You are a disgusting piece of work." Harry snarled at the man as he tossed the remains of the cuffs to the floor.

"Emissary-"

"Not now John." Harry snapped. "These trumped up charges hold no water and when this is all over I will have _you _charged with corruption. You'll spend the rest of your life in the stockade."

"This is an Alliance matter, Potter." The Rear Admiral sneered. "If I had my way you would be joining him."

"_Rear_ Admiral Mikhailovich. You are being reassigned."

Everyone, including the reporters, turned to see Admiral Hackett storming up. He slapped an OSD on the man's chest.

"I don't understand… what about my duties here?" The man was confused before he got a glimpse at the orders on the OSD. "The Terminus systems?" He asked in shock.

"Most of the ships in that region of space have been recalled." Hackett said calmly. "There are only five older model frigates but they need a commander whilst they patrol the area for pirates and the like. You leave immediately."

"I'm needed here!" The Rear Admiral argued angrily. "I'm in charge of-"

"Are you questioning your orders? _Rear_ Admiral?" Hackett challenged as he reminded him of his place.

Mikhailovich straightened, but scowled. "What about my duties on the War Crimes Tribunal?"

"They have been reassigned." Hackett responded. "You are dismissed, Admiral." Hackett said with finality.

The Rear Admiral stewed on the spot for a moment. "I will be raising my objections to this posting." He said before storming off without a salute.

"You enjoyed that." Harry smirked.

Hackett looked at the younger man with a raised eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that I would abuse my position, Emissary?"

"Abuse it? Merlin no!" Harry scoffed. "But you aren't the man's superior for nothing." He smirked.

Admiral Steven Hackett was quite used to the Emissary's… eccentricities. He simply straightened his jacket and turned to walk to the reporters. The team followed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, as I am sure you have heard, Captain John Shepard of the Citadel Spectres has been charged with various crimes that include the destruction of a solar system and interfering with a mass relay.

"As a Council Spectre he is generally immune from prosecution by bodies such as the Alliance. However, Captain Shepard has graciously agreed to return to Earth to answer the charges put forward by the Alliance."

"Admiral, if Captain Shepard is immune from prosecution then why is the Alliance being allowed to continue with this action? What is the response of the Council?" A reporter asked.

"The Alliance felt that, as Captain Shepard is still a serving member of the Alliance Navy, they needed to investigate. They petitioned Councillor Escheel for permission to start proceedings."

"So the Council is also prosecuting Captain Shepard?" Another reporter asked curiously.

"No, they are not." Everyone turned to see Councillor Aethyta storming up in her long tight dress. "The Council is divided three to one over this issue." She stated bluntly. "Unfortunately Councillor Escheel is within her rights to assign the case to an independent body.

"Fortunately, the rest of the Council is within their rights to defend Spectre Shepard." She said with a dark smile.

"But if the evidence is enough to warrant an investigation, shouldn't the Council remain neutral?" The first reporter asked.

"The Council _and_ the Alliance has seen the evidence. We have days of recordings and hundreds of thousands of witnesses that lay out the facts.

"Whilst Spectre Shepard _did_ destroy a solar system and mass relay, he did so with the sole intention of protecting the galaxy. Furthermore, the event took place beyond Council space. We have no jurisdiction there. In the view of the majority of the Council this whole investigation is a farce." She sneered.

"As Emissary of the Free People, I should point out that John Shepard is recognised as a hero. The government of the Free People have created a committee to determine an appropriate week that can be designated as a public holiday in honour of what John Shepard and his people have achieved.

"A _whole_ week!" Harry smirked. "They only have one day named after me." He grinned at Shepard.

"Captain Shepard, do you have any comments on the charges against you?" A reporter queried.

Shepard looked at Hackett, Aethyta and Harry to see if he was under restrictions. They all gave consenting nods.

He gave a deep sigh. "The evidence will speak for itself. Hopefully, either the Alliance, the Council or the Free People will release the appropriate footage to show the public what happened.

"Whilst we saved all inhabitants of the Bahak System, I issued the command to destroy the sun and mass relay before the Emissary developed the plan to save them.

"I knew that I was condemning them to death but I had no choice as the Reapers were already arriving and they were not effected enough by the destructive power of the sun they were arriving in. After the Battle of the Citadel, I knew I couldn't afford to let them arrive."

"Reapers? I thought they were deemed a myth?"

"Only by political cowards who are afraid of the truth." Harry said derisively. "The evidence is there. It is irrefutable. Dr. Liara T'Soni of Shepard's own team has been searching for more evidence and she will be presenting that evidence during this farce of a trial and at a conference on the Citadel in a month or so."

"Matriarch Aethyta, what is the Council's response?" Someone challenged.

"The Council has yet to review the evidence. Dr. T'Soni hasn't presented us with advanced copies of her work so I can't comment on that." She shrugged. "As for the existence of Reapers… I don't know who or what they are but I do know that there isn't a single expert, from any race, that has positively identified them as a Heretic Geth construct.

"We _have_ managed to determine that the geth themselves don't possess the ability to be imaginative enough to create a unique vessel like the Reaper vessels."

"Couldn't another race have created them?"

Aethyta looked at the reporter like he was a bug. "That is exactly what the Emissary and Spectre Shepard have been saying you idiot." She snapped. "Of course the Reapers were created by someone else!"

"Do you know what bothers me?" Harry spoke up. "All this time the idiots in government have been calling Shepard and myself delusional because we claimed that the Reapers were coming. They kept saying that the geth or the heretics created it. They kept saying that there were no more Reapers.

"Well, the evidence we have presented the Council and _all_ the galactic governments shows that at least three Reapers emerged from the Bahak System Relay. Each one was able to survive the destructive power of the sun.

"Well… the idiots were wrong about there only being one. Having seen three more, why would they assume there aren't more?

"Just one of those ships was capable of taking out a good chunk of the Human Alliance Navy. The Asari dreadnought, the Destiny Ascension, only survived because the Alliance arrived in the nick of time.

"The turian and salarian ships were decimated.

"So why are their governments quibbling over where they came from instead of dedicating everything to figuring out how to stop them?" Harry demanded of the reporters.

There was a flurry of fingers over omni-tools as the reporters made notes even though they were recording. This little event would produce journalistic gold.

"Anyway, you know what questions to ask. You know that we have a lot of answers and are willing to give them to you. I suggest you go and ask the rest of the parties involved for their answers. Those are the ones that are putting the galaxy in danger. Next time it might not be the Citadel that the Reapers attack, or a remote batarian colony… next time it might be Earth."

* * *

><p>Everywhere Shepard went in Alliance HQ, he was met with proud salutes.<p>

His arm was literally aching by the time they reached the quarters that had been set aside for him during his stay on Earth.

The two soldiers standing outside snapped to attention as the group, led by Admiral Hackett, arrived.

"You are dismissed."

The two guards shared a nervous look. "Sir, we have orders from the JMC to remain on guard duty for the prisoner."

"Then you have a lot of free time on your hands as there _is_ no prisoner." Harry said dryly.

The Admiral looked livid… despite trying to control his emotions. "I won't attempt to countermand your orders… but I will be keeping a close eye on you and your relief. If I find that Captain Shepard has been treated with anything less than the utmost respect… you will feel my displeasure." He breathed tightly.

The men snapped a salute.

Hackett led the group into the room but Harry paused outside and waved his hand over the door a few times. He grinned mischievously at the two confused guards before entering.

"Bloody hell! Are they gonna put you on bread and water too?" Harry exclaimed as he finally saw Shepard's new quarters.

To say it was barren was to say the sun was hot.

The only thing in the room was a bed, a very thin mattress a toilet and a sink.

Even the window had been sealed off.

"Emissary-"

"Oh do lay off Admiral." Harry snapped irritably. "I know you had nothing to do with this and I refuse to accept any attempt to placate me that actually comes from you. If this is how the Alliance treats its heroes then just remember that I have several fleets that could use an experienced Admiral and you come highly recommended."

Hackett was still not sure if Harry blamed him.

"Harry, conjure some chairs, would you?" Ashley asked as she looked around 'room' in distaste.

"Chairs?" Harry asked incredulously. "Screw that! All of you wait outside." He ordered.

Rather than have the Admiral get even more confused, Shiala grabbed him by the arm and hooked her arm in his elbow and escorted him out.

The two guards outside looked quite shamed as they exited.

They didn't say anything though as they were on duty and didn't want to get in anymore trouble.

Not being able to do anything about the room or the current guard situation, Hackett decided to do what he _could_ do. "Men, despite the orders you have been given, Spectre John Shepard still holds the Alliance rank of Captain. He still holds command of the SSV SR-1 Normandy. He is still the man who led the team that defeated the Reaper and saved several colonies from the Collectors.

"I expect you to salute when he appears. I expect you to have your boots shined like mirrors when you are on duty. You may be on guard duty… but you are guarding a galactic hero… am I clear?"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" The two men snapped a salute.

"Good. Make sure your relief knows as well. I would hate to have to return for anything other than a personal visit with the Captain."

"Alright, I'm done." Harry said as he poked his head out the door.

Hackett followed the others into the room… and froze.

Steven Hackett was quite familiar with magic. He had toured the Dog Star, the Tiger-Lilly, the magical tents, the Stingray, Diagon Alley…

But Harry had gone all out.

The room was nearly twenty times the size, maybe more. There were three levels, the furniture looked very inviting and had a common oak theme. The whole room looked out of place in the fairly sterile halls of Alliance HQ.

And then there was the window.

Every room in the building, barring prison cells and storage rooms, had a window. The window in the room assigned to Shepard had been sealed up. Probably another attempt to make him feel like a prisoner.

Now the entire wall, all three levels, was a fine clear window that looked out onto the city of Vancouver. It was a beautiful sight.

Hackett coughed slightly as he tried to regain his voice. "I realise I shouldn't need to ask but… this doesn't affect the structural stability of the building does it?"

Harry smiled widely at him. "This is why I like you Admiral. Your first concern was for the safety of your people and not the fact that I had just turned a prison cell into a palace. But no, this room has no real affect on the rest of the building. The geth made sure I reinforced the wall, floor and ceiling.

"Harry, you were only in here for five minutes." Ashley said with a great deal of confusion.

"Weeeell…"

"Harry James Potter… _what_ did you do?" Karin Chakwas growled.

"It is so cool!" Harry said happily, seemingly unaffected by the Doctor's attitude. "The geth have figured out a rune system that can be powered by biotic energy! Well, any energy really."

"So you just had to apply a set of pre-written runes and power them to create the room." Liara nodded. She had studied magic a fair bit.

"No."

But that didn't mean she had spent enough time studying Harry.

"I spent the five minutes writing runes that would let me alter time in this room. I then spent two days in here fixing the place up."

There was a short pause as they processed that.

"You can manipulate space _and_ time?" Liara asked carefully.

"Sure. I've used a time turner before, but that just took me back in time a few hours." Harry nodded.

"So… you altered the flow of time in this… 'room', just so you could give Shepard a better place to live?"

"Well… that and to snub my nose at the fools trying to get him." He said with a scowl.

"Harry, if you can go back in time why-"

"Time paradox." Harry interrupted Ashley's question. "Reapers and Alliance gits not withstanding, how much do you like your life right now?" He asked the Lieutenant.

She glanced at Shepard. "A lot."

"Right, so if I go back in time to _any_ significant event and attempt to interfere then I _will_ alter the present. You might be stuck as a private or you might never meet me… the Reapers might be replaced by someone worse… Cerberus could enslave the galaxy!

"There are a whole bunch of other reasons not to go back in time and mess with things but that would be the biggest."

"You could save billions of lives." Samara tried to reason.

"I could save galaxies." Harry shrugged. "But… would it really be considered saving people or exchanging them for others?" He put to her.

"I do not understand." She frowned.

"Simple protocols exist for the possibility of time travel even amongst the Salarians." Mordin spoke up. "Harry is saying that if he saves people in the past, those that exist now may never be born. In effect; he would have to sacrifice them to save others."

"Bottom line: I go back in time and kill Saren just as he goes rogue… I cause Liara never to be born." Harry said pointedly.

"You definitely won't be doing that." Aethyta glared at him.

"I still can't believe you altered time in this room just to… _decorate_." Kaiden said in exasperation.

"Not just to decorate. The geth and I have been experimenting with time rooms for a few days now. They are currently rolling out better ships and platforms because they have created several rooms filled with servers and low level programs that are operating outside of time."

"We should stop talking about this." Aethyta said quickly. "I have oaths I have to uphold as a Councillor. I won't be able to keep this from Escheel. If the Council Races hear about this then you might have to fight a whole different war."

"I want to know what the plan is now." Ash spoke up. "The Collectors are gone but the Reapers and Cerberus are still out there. Why is the Alliance so gung-ho about prosecuting Shepard?"

"Because promises were made between the Salarians and the Alliance." Hackett answered grimly. "Promises of new technology and support for future endeavours if the Alliance agreed to silence Shepard about the Reapers."

"Is it possible the Salarian government has been indoctrinated?" Miranda queried.

"We won't know until the last second. Possibly ever." Harry admitted. "Other than them openly declaring their love for genocidal alien machines… the only way to tell is to examine their brains."

"I can live with that." Ashley shrugged.

"I Believe Harry is referring to nanite retrieved data as opposed to open cranial invasive techniques." Mordin chuckled.

"Look, we can debate what the Salarians and the Alliance are up to all day… but we are running out of time. The Reapers will get here and we need to be ready." Harry said seriously.

"Don't you just love when he gets all commanding like that? Oof!" Kasumi grunted as Tali elbowed her in the gut.

"Samara and I have to take a little trip. We won't be gone long but we will be going dark."

"Is this one of those missions you can't tell us about?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. But we will have back up." He promised. "Liara needs to go back to the Citadel to prepare for her conference. She could use some protection. The geth will be present as always but an organic or two wouldn't be amiss."

"I can handle that if someone wants to join me." Jacob offered.

"I will accompany you." Thane stated. "It will give me the opportunity to spend time with my son."

"Before you head to the Citadel I need Dr. T'Soni to look at some of the latest Prothean findings on Mars." Hackett said.

"Kaiden, take command of the Utah." Shepard ordered. "The Alliance can't claim that ship as it is registered as property of the Emissary.

"I'll take the Normandy… if I ever get out of this."

"If I'm not needed for anything then I would like to take the time to return to Palaven." Garrus spoke up. "I have some… family things I need to take care of."

"Take Grunt, Tank and the Dog Star." Harry offered. "The Reapers could strike anytime, any place. Boys, Garrus has the command, but make sure you speak up and advise him."

Both krogans gave a grunt and a nod.

"I would like to spend some time with my sister before we go off on another suicide mission." Miranda admitted.

"You can come with us." Tali offered. "We need to head back to make a few appearances. It seems the Free People have taken someone's joke too seriously." She glared at her fiancé. "They are now asking _me_ to make decisions."

"What will you be doing, Harry?" Kaiden asked the wizard.

"The geth are close to a breakthrough on magic. They will be setting up a lab in here to test me. When they aren't poking me with needles I will be trying to make alliances with the magical species around the planet. I need to prepare the goblins for a possible invasion. I need to warn the centaurs and see if they know anything. The mer-people also need warning as do vampires, werewolves, giants… Merlin… there's a long list!" Harry said breathlessly.

* * *

><p>"You guys suck." Harry was sitting on the grass at Hogwarts in front of several centaurs. They had just finished telling him of what they saw in the stars.<p>

Namely a great battle in which the Child of Lightning and The Shepherd would work together to drive back the Dark Harvest.

"We have no control over the stars, Harry Potter." Palaise, the Centaur Chief, chided.

"Yeah, but you never give me good news." Harry pouted.

"The stars speak of what will come, but not what will happen." Palaise frowned. "There will be a great battle, but how that battle is fought and what the outcome will be they do not say. You could win with ease or fall after a prolonged fight… all that is clear is that you will be pivotal."

"Fine." Harry sulked. "What about you and the Centaurs? Will you fight?"

"Our bows and swords will be at your disposal." Palaise inclined his head.

"Bows and swords might not be enough." Harry warned. "I'd like it if you would speak with some of my friends, they can supply you with weapons that will be more effective."

"We will listen… but we will not commit ourselves to using your tools." He allowed.

* * *

><p>"YOU" *<strong>THWACK<strong>* "WILL" ***SLAP*** "FOLLOW" ***THWIP*** "MY" ***SHWICK*** "INSTRUCTIONS!"

***THUD***

Harry breathed heavily as he stepped back and hopped off the massive body he had just single handedly beaten to a pulp.

After the Centaurs and Mer-People, both of whom had agreed to help fight, he had approached the giants.

They responded by trying to squash him.

He responded by killing their chief and then beating the next biggest giant into a coma.

"Anyone else?" He asked the twenty or so arrayed giants watching.

"You big little chief." One of them said with clear horror on his face. "We follow you."

* * *

><p>"Alright arseholes! First one to say 'no' to me loses his head!"<p>

Three decapitated vampires later and Harry walked out of the Romanian pub with the allegiance of one of the largest clans of vampires and a promise to approach the werewolves to save him the trouble.

Anything to get the mad man out killing range of themselves.

* * *

><p>"Calm yourself young human. I know why you have come." The large sphinx greeted him as he arrived in Egypt near a cave the goblins had sent him to. "I have already spoken with the phoenixes and dragons. They will answer your call.<p>

"You may also cease your reign of terror on the remnants of the magical species." She said in amusement. "I will rally the rest in your name."

"_How_ do you know my name?" Harry asked.

"I do not know your human name. But I know what you are. You are the spark that will reignite magic. You are the progenitor of the next wave."

"And again I feel the need to hit something." Harry mumbled.

"Soon you will have all the targets you could desire. So many that you will regret your blood lust." She warned.

* * *

><p>Having been sent packing by the sphinx in order to prevent him terrorising more magical species, Harry headed off with Samara to deal with their secret mission.<p>

In short, the asari government refused to allow the Ardat Yakshi to be released from their seclusion and threatened to exterminate them if any one attempted contact.

Harry had to be manhandled by Samara into calming down and not ordering the Emissary's Third Fleet to the planet of Lessus where the monastery housing the Ardat Yakshi resided.

Instead she had convinced him to make use of his own personal abilities and neutralise the asari guards and convince the secluded asari to leave with them.

They had a few days until Harry needed to be back to deal with the trial so they had taken the Normandy (much to the Alliance's ire) and had the crew drop them at the edge of the Mesana System whilst they continued on the Stingray.

As they headed for Lessus at sub-light speeds they discussed a few things.

"Samara, when the Reapers are dealt with, you may want to either have Shepard keep you bound by your oath or make sure you are far away from this galaxy. I recommend joining the Second Fleet on their expeditions."

"Why?" She asked with a frown.

"Because I intend to stomp out this discrimination against Purebloods. It is completely irrational. In the process, I might have to gut a few people."

"Purebloods are the route cause Ardat-Yakshi though." She tried to reason. "Had I not mated with another asari my daughters might not have suffered."

"Bullshit." Harry spat.

Samara looked very offended but he ploughed on.

"How long have the Ardat-Yakshi existed?" He challenged.

"They have been mentioned in our earliest writings."

"Right… long before the asari left Thessia, correct?"

"Of course."

"Then why aren't there more of them?" Harry asked. "The asari spent thousands of years on Thessia with no other species to reproduce with. By that logic the Ardat-Yakshi should make up nearly fifty percent of the asari species."

"The Ardat-Yakshi are sterile. They are incapable of reproducing."

"I have a wild hunch that they might be able to reproduce with some of the magical species on Earth… or each other." He said pointedly.

Samara ruminated on that for a moment before it hit her. "You believe the Ardat-Yakshi are asari equivalents of magicals!"

"Right. There isn't a way to test that without seeing if you daughters would be willing to try but I'd rather just introduce them to various people and let things happen naturally."

"But why would they need this 'magic' to make children?"

Harry sighed. "Despite the fact that there are millions of magical creatures on Earth right now, I am the only being in the galaxy who is capable of using magic.

"The geth have been working towards a conclusion that the reason the others have lost the ability is because something about Dark Energy has altered their DNA."

"But you spend most of your time around high levels of Dark Energy."

"And the geth are keeping my body in a constant state of health." Harry nodded. "They have a baseline for my genetic profile and part of their efforts to keeping me safe involve preventing genetic modification.

"An easy way to test their hypothesis would be to allow the Dark Energy to make changes, but as we are preparing for war, we agreed it wouldn't be smart to try that now.

"Hopefully your daughters will be willing to let the geth examine them. They might be able to provide them with the missing piece of the puzzle."

* * *

><p>"Matriarch Gallae, I have come for my daughters." Samara declared as she and Harry marched into the entrance foyer of the monastery.<p>

"Justicar Samara?" The Matriarch said in surprise. "I thought you swore to never visit until Morinth was dealt with."

"Morinth has been neutralised." Samara informed her. "This is The Emissary."

The Matriarch inclined her head respectfully. "We stay up to date as best we can. During our recent outing to Thessia it was clear that you have had a huge impact on asari culture. We even saw several of The Liberated asari there." She said with a proud smile.

But then she frowned. "But why have you come here? Justicar, you know that the monastery is off limits to all."

"Of course Matriarch. But that is only due to the threat the Ardat-Yakshi pose to visitors. Emissary Potter has the means to make them safe and enable them to live as free asari. He also believes he can establish the true nature of the Ardat-Yakshi."

Gallae was not expecting that. "If this were true, why did you not- oh." She stalled in realisation. "You did approach the Matriarchs and they turned you away." She said sadly.

"They did." Samara nodded gravely.

"Foolish girls." She spat. She then sighed and shook herself. "It doesn't matter. We are not under the auspices of the government. We are an independent institution. Our girls submit themselves voluntarily, knowing that they are a danger to others if they remain amongst the galactic population."

She then looked at them warningly. "Remember, they are free to decline your help."

"As long as they are free to accept we won't have a problem. If nothing else we want to relocate them to a geth planet. They aren't a threat to the geth and it would give them more people to talk to." Harry offered. "Plus we have much better planets that aren't so hard to live on."

Lessus might look nice on the brochures but its gravity was fairly high and it contained a fair amount of diseases.

* * *

><p>"So you think you can cure us?" Falere, Samara's youngest daughter asked sceptically.<p>

"You aren't diseased." Harry rolled his eyes. "You are just different. Once we've got the addictive side of you under control then I will introduce you to a species that is very similar to yourselves on Earth."

"A species that kills if they mate?" She scoffed.

"Sister, he is trying to help us." The middle child of Samara's three daughters chided.

"They are called 'Succubae'. Or 'Succubus' for singular. The difference between you and them is that they actually _need_ the sexual energies to survive. If they mate with someone and they lose control they kill their partner. If they mate too often they can also kill them."

"Where as we kill if we even try. There is no chance of our partner surviving." Falere spat, she was clearly insulted that this human was trying to compare them.

"You have a choice. They don't. You don't _have_ to mate to live. They do." Harry glared. "Listen, if you don't want to get some help, to be able to walk freely amongst other asari or to even find a partner, then fine. Stay here in solitude for the rest of your life.

"I've got bigger fish to fry and only came here because I thought you deserved help after you willingly imprisoned yourselves."

"Falere, shut up and back off." Rila hissed at her younger sister as she pulled him away.

"I apologise Emissary-"

"Harry."

"Harry then. This has been a trying time as we recently visited Thessia and, although it reminds us of why chose solitude, it does raise resentment in us. We are seen as monsters and it hurts."

"Right, and as I was discussing with your mum on the way here, the bitches on Thessia are bigoted fools." Harry nodded. "Come with me and you can meet the geth (who are completely immune to you) and then you can eventually meet the rest of the Free People. You'll probably find that they will consider you part of the Liberated."

"The freed slaves?" She asked in confusion.

"You might have chosen imprisonment, but we both know what the alternative is." Harry pointed out. "I did help Samara capture your sister and had to stop her from killing her when I had an alternative."

"Morinth is alive?" Falere asked in shock as she stepped back up.

"In the custody of the geth." Samara nodded. "Her powers have been neutralised permanently. The geth have used her confinement to refine their methods and now they can make it so your biotics are unaffected but you will be unable to kill with your mating process."

"We are hoping that one of you will submit to a physical examination of your brain so we can try and figure out a better way of dealing with it. You may also be the key to reviving magic." Harry explained.

"Magic?" Rila queried.

"This is going to be a long story." Harry sighed.

* * *

><p>Despite Falere's initial abrasive and combative nature, both women were willing to help the geth overcome their condition. The Matriarchs of the monastery also accompanied them claiming that: 'Where so ever the girls go, there resides the monastery'.<p>

There was a bit of disconcertment as they realised they were being dropped off on Rannoch, but it was explained that they would be in a remote area and only the geth would be with them until they were ready to be introduced to their fellow citizens.


	37. Chapter 37

Harry returned to Vancouver to prepare for the trial and generally try and relax.

"Harry, there is a lot of grumbling going on that certain people can't find this room." Shepard said in amusement as they sat with Aethyta in the large and spacious living room.

"As long as they hold no ill will against you they shouldn't have any trouble finding you." Harry said innocently.

"That explains the two times I couldn't find the damned room." Aethyta grumbled. At Harry's curious look she expounded. "Shepard was being a stubborn fool. He frustrated me so much that I wanted to strangle him."

"Ah… I mainly put it up so the Admirals backing your prosecution couldn't come and gloat." Harry gave her an apologetic look.

"Well we have our strategy laid out." Aethyta declared as she handed over an OSD.

Harry took it began to download and dissect it. "Alright, we can do this. I want a shot first though."

"Is this going to be like when you dealt with Sparatus?" Shepard asked hesitantly.

Harry smirked and shrugged.

* * *

><p>"This hearing is now in session. The case is the Alliance vs. Captain John Shepard. The charges are, interfering with a mass effect relay, destruction of the Bahak System and attempted mass murder of the inhabitants of the Bahak System."<p>

"Objection!"

The head of the judicial panel that was trying this case glared at the grinning Emissary. Everybody knew that he would cause problems, they had all seen what he had done to Sparatus and the old Council, not to mention that Westerlund reporter.

"We haven't even started."

"You did just say that the hearing was in session." Harry said happily. "I am fully aware of every aspect of Alliance court procedures and laws."

Admiral Arden, one of three on the panel seated in front of a large window, several stories up, looking out on the city of Vancouver, growled… but knew he had no choice.

Whilst the Alliance had wanted this done quietly, the Emissary had made threats of going public himself if they didn't make this an open trial that was broadcast to the entire known galaxy.

They couldn't simply drop charges this big without some explanation so they were forced to go down this route. A route being watched and judged by trillions and trillions of intelligent beings.

"State your objection." The female admiral, Jaden, on the left instructed when it was clear her colleague might blow his top.

"First of all, you have charged 'Captain John Shepard'. The incidents you listed in your brief take place when there was no Captain John Shepard'. There was, however, a '_Spectre_ Captain John Shepard'.

"It should be noted that Spectres are awarded the power and authority to use whatever means they deem necessary to complete their missions. They are untouchable by any but the Council themselves."

"And, as our brief states, we have been given the authority to prosecute on behalf of the Council." The Admiral Jaden reasoned calmly.

"Correction, you have been given authority on behalf of a Councillor." Aethyta piped up from her chair on the other side of Shepard at the defence table. "It won't affect your authority and remit, but it matters to the rest of the Council who are against this so called 'hearing'."

"Of course, Councillor." The Admiral said respectfully.

Aethyta nodded and sat back down.

Harry continued. "Now then, as long as the Alliance doesn't continue to insult the good Spectre any further we will drop that objection."

"There should be no issues with a simple administrative change to the current documentation." The third admiral, Bhali, a man of Indian descent allowed.

"Good, then lets get down to the real reason that this trial should be dismissed and apologies given to Spectre Shepard." Harry smiled like a shark.

"Whilst Shepard was recovering from the attack by the Collectors that destroyed the Normandy, the Alliance submitted several reports to the Council and to various news outlets that claimed the Captain was suffering from delusions and paranoia, likely brought on by extreme PTSD from the attack on the Citadel.

"Anyone disputing that fact?" He turned to the Admirals and the Captain sitting at the prosecution's table.

"We are all aware of those documents, Emissary." The Admiral Arden said testily. "What is your point?"

"My point… is that you are legally prohibited, _by_ Alliance law, from prosecuting a soldier who is suffering from PTSD. He cannot be held accountable for any actions he may have taken and you can only submit an application for him to be seen by psychiatric staff.

"In other words… the only people committing crimes here, are you lot." Harry said smugly as he sat down.

The Admirals conferred quickly before Arden turned to the prosecution. "Captain Dagwell, does the prosecution have anything to add?"

"No Admirals, this was brought up by my team prior to the filing of the charges but I was informed it was not an issue." Dagwell had a lot of respect for Captain Shepard. He would do his job and prosecute based on the charges and evidence… but he'd damned if he'd break the law for the brass over this.

This was something that was clearly apparent to Admiral Arden as he scowled angrily at the Captain. "This hearing is adjourned for two hours." He banged a gavel and stood.

"Harry, if they find me mentally incapable-"

"Relax Shepard." Harry said dismissively. "They would have to find a neutral mind doctor. Probably a non-human trained in xeno-psychology.

"I'll rip apart anyone they try to bring in and lie and they know it.

"No… their only choice is to issue a retraction for besmirching your name in this way."

"But then they will be able to prosecute." Aethyta reasoned. She was feeling a bit peeved as Harry was being fairly secretive about his strategy.

"Yes… and in doing so we will have to make them state, unequivocally, that Shepard was correct about the Reapers. If they don't then we will continue to call them up on that. They can't say you are sane and then say Reapers aren't real without calling themselves liars."

"And if they concede that the Reapers are real?" Shepard asked.

Harry looked over at him with that huge grin. "Then they will have to explain what _they_ would have done about the Reapers pouring through the Bahak System Relay. Especially as most of your star witnesses will be geth and batarians who will be thanking you for saving their lives."

"You are one devious bastard." Aethyta remarked with a wry look. "Emphasis on 'bastard'." She added.

* * *

><p>It turned out that the Admiralty Board wasn't able to just wave a magic wand and suddenly declare Shepard mentally capable.<p>

They had actually used that term: 'magic wand'.

Harry had pulled his wand and done just that… they didn't seem ready to accept it so the hearing was adjourned until they could consult with their experts.

With the rest of the team off on various missions or personal errands, Harry opted to stay with Shepard in his lavish apartment. Harry would make Shepard take him around the planet to visit all the things he hadn't seen hundreds of years ago.

They were currently at Niagra Falls, Harry had heard about it and seen a few pictures, but seeing it was something else.

"You realise that if the Reapers come anywhere near Earth all of this will likely be lost." Harry told Shepard sadly.

"That and a good percentage of the population." Shepard shook his head sadly. "The Free People and the Krogan are prepared. They could easily survive and possibly win against the Reapers. The rest of the galaxy would be steam rolled."

"We wouldn't just leave the innocent to die, John." Harry assured him.

"Of course not… but in the time it takes for your people to send the Reapers packing from your own planets and get to places like Earth… we'll be fighting guerrilla war tactics.

"The Alliance doesn't even have people checking the stockpiled weapons and resources. If the Reapers come then there is a good chance that a fair amount of weapons won't work because they haven't been serviced."

"And it is the civilians that will suffer." Harry sighed.

"Emissary, Captain?" One of the guards 'escorting' them came up. "We've been asked to bring you back to Vancouver. Something has come up and they need to talk to you."

* * *

><p>Harry and Shepard were taken to the Alliance Naval Operations Room. It was similar to the room that the hearing was being held in except that it was on the ground floor and the room contained many banks of computers and working staff along the walls.<p>

It was clear that someone high up had a superiority complex as the room still contained a form of judicial bench in front of a large scenic window.

Seated at the bench were three different Admirals.

"Emissary, could you explain why there is a ship claiming to be part of the Emissary's Free Republic requesting permission to enter Alliance space?" An old grizzled and balding man asked.

"Because they refuse to call themselves something else and are too polite to just barge in." Harry said factually.

The Admiral frowned.

The Admiral on the left tried to stifle a smile as he clarified the question. "We were hoping for more of a confirmation that these are your people and what their purpose here on Earth is."

"Oh." Harry said innocently. "Well, they are the Second Fleet of the 'Emissary's Free People'." He said with a sarcastic lilt to their title. "They are transporting the witnesses for the hearing against Spectre Captain John Shepard."

The man on the right raised his eyebrows in slight disbelief. "Emissary, the ship registers as being nearly three times the size of the Destiny Ascension and there is only one ship, not a fleet."

"The ship _is_ the fleet." Harry explained. "It's a carrier. The Alliance are considered allies so they don't have any patrols out whilst in your territory. It is a sign of trust."

"Then we are honoured." The left Admiral inclined his head.

"Why on god's green earth would you need to send a carrier to ferry your witnesses?" The first Admiral demanded in exasperation.

"It was the biggest and safest ship capable of transporting the 300,000 batarian colonists, the hundreds of krogan and the millions of geth who witnessed the event in question." Again with the innocent look.

Shepard actually felt very touched by this as he knew that every single being on the carrier was probably not only there voluntarily but had likely demanded to come and testify.

"I am once again, very glad I am not on the panel trying your case, Captain Shepard." The second Admiral chuckled.

"Which is probably a good argument for _having_ you on the panel." Harry reasoned with a smile. "At least we'd know you don't have an agenda."

"I believe we should avoid looking at this from the perspective of the trial." The third Admiral said seriously. "It is currently in session and beyond our remit. We have no reason to object to your carrier coming, especially as they are coming on official business.

"However, the ship _is_ far too large to remain in orbit around Earth without causing issues with traffic and we definitely can't handle a sudden influx of more than 300,000 individuals."

"We're still trying to work through the last batch of individuals you sent our way." The second Admiral grinned. He was clearly enjoying this.

"We need to take this seriously!" The first Admiral said testily. "We have a large and clearly powerful vessel on approach to Earth. Regardless of our current diplomatic status, the ship is still a threat."

"The carrier doesn't need to come any further." Harry shook his head. "They will be happy to drop off the cruiser where they are. The cruiser is substantially smaller." He promised.

"And these… _thousands_ of colonists and krogan will be content to just stay on a military cruiser?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yes. But it isn't really a military cruiser. It's more of an exploration vehicle. The entire carrier is set up to head out into unknown space and learn more about what's out there?"

The second Admiral could see that the first was probably going to blow a gasket and decided to try and sort things out as quickly as possible.

"Emissary, we would appreciate it if you could have the carrier depart as soon as possible. Many of our captains and admirals served in the First Contact War. They still get a little jumpy at seeing large alien spaceships in Alliance territory.

"If you could have your cruiser take up orbit around Mars that should keep it close enough for a reasonably swift transit to the Earth's surface but also keep it out of global, orbital flight paths."

"Not a problem." Harry said easily. "I've ordered the carrier to release the cruiser and it should depart within the hour."

"You have our thanks."

Harry grabbed the silent and observing Shepard and apparated them out before the first Admiral finally popped that gasket at his colleague.

* * *

><p>"You want to enter the testimonies of over 300,000 batarians, krogans, geth, quarians… this is your idea of a joke, isn't it?" Admiral Arden demanded as the hearing was restarted.<p>

The Alliance had hesitantly and disgustedly issued an apology for the 'erroneous paperwork' that led to them 'appearing' to call the Spectre's sanity into question.

It wasn't like they really had a choice if they wanted Shepard neutralised. Even if they stuck with calling him insane, they would never get it to fly with the Council. The most they could do was strip him of his commission and discharge him on medical grounds. The Council would probably keep him on as a Spectre out of spite and they would lose out on one of the most important political pieces in the galaxy… a Spectre.

"Every person listed was either rescued by the Spectre and his people or was serving under him at the time. Each and every one of them witnessed the events and had involvement." Harry said calmly.

"How do you expect you expect us to cross-examine more than 300,000 people? It would take decades!"

"Well… to be honest… that's your problem." Harry shrugged. "You see; you people are the ones making ridiculous claims. I've got 300,000 individuals plus thousands more with personal recordings of the events. Each one will take that seat and swear, under oath, that they saw Spectre Captain Shepard save them whilst using the destruction of the Bahak System to defeat their attackers.

"What do you have? The prosecution has entered twenty so-called 'expert witnesses'." Harry scoffed. "So… twenty versus 300,000."

"The Prosecution believes this is simply a stalling tactic and a way to sabotage these proceedings." There was a new Prosecutor assigned. Captain Mahoney, clearly a man who didn't like Shepard and was more than happy to tow the line the Alliance wanted.

"Believe what you want." Harry shrugged. "Each person will give a relevant and truthful testimony. The fact that there are so many will go to show just how insane this hearing actually is."

"Insane? That's an understatement." Aethyta said in disgust. "Listen you arrogant little snots, I've been trying to convince Shepard to toss his commission in your face for the past few weeks."

The Admirals bristled at the insult.

"He's got offers of citizenship from the asari and the turians. Both of those have already started to check their defences as they aren't questioning the latest evidence from the Bahak System that shows the Reapers as a real and present threat.

"I don't know what the hell Escheel promised you but it damned well can't be worth making a fool of yourselves like you currently are.

"The whole galactic community is watching this fiasco. There are so many victims of Collectors and Reapers that nearly _everyone_ knows someone who survived an attack. They are all looking at the Alliance and wondering why they are being so stupid and stubborn by prosecuting a man whose only crime was to try and save the innocent."

"Perhaps it's because we have proof that the rest of the galaxy doesn't that shows the Reapers are nothing more than a bunch of overpowered cruisers and not some mythical harbinger of galactic destruction." Admiral Arden sneered.

"Hold on." Harry said as he stood up.

Aethyta scowled but took her seat.

"You say that these Reapers exist, they are just powerful cruisers?" He frowned.

"That's what our intelligence says." Arden said smugly.

"These things are the same as the vessel that ploughed through the Citadel defences including most of the Alliance Fifth Fleet?"

"Right."

"So… if one of these things was to appear over Earth, what would you do about it?" Harry asked curiously.

"We'd throw the fleets at it." Arden said with a look of superiority. "We defeated the last one, we can defeat another."

"But you didn't defeat the last one." Harry reminded them. "I did. I boarded the ship and then flew it into the nebula where I powered it down. Before that it made it into the Citadel unharmed.

"So, with that in mind, what would you do after this Reaper, that hypothetically appears over Earth, decimates your fleets?"

"Just because you got to the Reaper before us doesn't mean we couldn't have defeated it, Potter."

"Admiral." Jaden said warningly.

Arden just sneered at her before turning back to Harry. "We survived the turians, we survived the Nazis, we survived our own civil wars and so much more. Each time we come out stronger and if these Reapers come to Earth, it will be no different."

"Shit."

At the quietly spoken curse the court turned to Shepard who was sitting there with a disappointed frown on his face. He silently stood up and approached the bench, removing his insignias as he went.

"I resign." He said as he placed them gently in front of Arden.

"That's your choice, Shepard. But you will still be tried for your crimes." Arden smirked as he quickly snatched up the Captain's bars before Shepard could take them back.

"Harry?" He asked as he turned to his counsel.

"Spectre John Shepard. Commander of the First Fleet of the Emissary's Free People. You already hold citizenship on Rannoch and within the Free People." Harry shrugged.

"John Shepard is officially under arrest." Arden scowled. "Guards, cuff the defendant."

"Oh… bugger." Harry muttered.

Arden saw Harry looking in his direction and smirked. Potter seemed to finally realise the gravity of the situation.

Then he noticed the guards still hadn't moved and where also staring at him.

"Are you deaf? I said cuff him!"

That shook the guards and they shared a look. They quickly headed to the defendants table and handed over their rifles.

"We'll head to the armoury to resupply." The lead guard said. "You should get back to the Normandy."

Shepard just nodded at the Marine who turned led his men off at a run.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Arden roared.

"_That_ is the meaning of this." Harry said as he pointed at the large window behind the judges.

The gallery had finally gathered their wits and had begun to stampede towards the door.

The judges turned and paled as they saw the immense ships descending from orbit and beginning to bombard the city of Vancouver.

The invasion had begun.

* * *

><p>"Skipper! The Normandy is loaded for bear and in the air." Ashley reported as they met outside the courtroom. She was followed by Vega and his small team.<p>

"Tell them to focus on distracting-"

"John, I'm the pilot for the Normandy." Harry piped up. "And don't worry, we've got several ships from the Second Fleet out there causing havoc for the bastards. They can't do anything crippling but they can make things harder whilst the civilians are evacuated."

"Do we know if this is the only point of attack? What about the rest of the galaxy?"

"The territories of the Free People are safe for now. We've got full control of our Relays so the Reapers will have to take the long route.

"The salarians appear untouched, the asari and turians are reporting sightings though." Harry said as he received reports via the geth.

"We need to get Shepard and yourself off the planet and back to the Citadel." Aethyta said.

"We need to secure Earth first." Shepard argued.

"You heard him! We can't do anything about these damned Reapers. We need a plan. Find my daughter. Find a way to unite the races and then point them at the Reapers one by one until you've reduced them to memories!" Aethyta barked angrily.

"And we just leave Earth to burn?" Ashley demanded.

"For weeks Harry has been preparing his own people. Your cities will crumble but I _know_ he's go plans in place to save your people." She looked at him knowingly.

Harry just shrugged. "The goblins are currently herding everyone in London into the vaults. Similar actions are being taken all over the world. The magical races are gathering the humans to places that are protected by magic. The Reapers won't be able to find them."

"Listen Shepard, Harry is the key to this whole thing." Aethyta stepped up close to the Spectre. "I am ordering you, as a Spectre, to ensure his safety. His mission is to stop the Reapers. Yours is to keep him alive."

She stared him in the eyes, begging him to understand and comply.

She understood he wanted to stay and protect his race. She wanted to be back on Thessia. Or more importantly, with her daughter.

"Harry, call in the Normandy. Get them as close as you can." Shepard ordered stiffly.

* * *

><p>"Stow it Vega." Ashley hissed at the large Marine as Shepard and Harry left the cargo hold. They were currently en route out of the system and Vega was looking to pitch a hissy fit over leaving. "You think you're the only one who wants to stay? My mother and sisters are back there."<p>

Vega had the good sense to look guilty.

"The only way they will be able to get out of this alive is if we figure out how to stop the Reapers. The only way to do that is to keep Harry and Shepard safe so they can work."

"She's right Chief and you know it." Milque said quietly. "Best thing we can do is check our gear and make sure we are ready to roll."

"Sorry Lieutenant." Vega said sincerely.

Ashley gave a sharp nod and marched off. It said a lot that Vega actually listened to her and followed her lead, they were of equal rank.

Aethyta had volunteered to stay behind and help defend the planet in Shepard's place. She had already accumulated a group of marines and navy personnel by the time she had literally thrown Shepard on board the Normandy with orders to end the invasion.

Ash made her way to the CIC, she wasn't one of the highest ranking officers on the ship but she was one of the most respected.

"Somebody give me a sit-rep." She ordered.

"Oh…erm, we've just received orders to head straight for Mars, Lieutenant." A young woman of Indian descent reported from the station next to the Galaxy Map. On the Utah it was manned by Kelly Chambers. "Apparently Dr. T'Soni was still there and we are heading to pick her up along with classified intel."

"Is she waiting for us or do we need to send a team to meat her?"

"The Mars base has gone dark, Lieutenant. We aren't receiving a response."

Ash activated the comm. "Vega, prepare your squad, the Stingray and the weapon loadouts for the team. We're heading for the Mars Research Base and the place has gone dark."

"_Copy that, Lieutenant."_ Came the response.

At that point Harry and Shepard entered the bridge.

"Lieutenant Ashley Williams, I have been requested by Admiral Hackett to give you this and these." Shepard said as he handed over an OSD and a small box.

Ash quickly skimmed through the OSD then checked the contents of the box. "This can't be serious?"

"I'm no longer Alliance. I resigned just before the Reapers appeared." Shepard said seriously. "This is an Alliance ship and it needs an Alliance commander, Captain Williams."

"Shit." Ash swore quietly. "Just so you know, if the Alliance tries to order me to leave you then I'll be turning in these bars." She scowled as she affixed the bars to her uniform.

"This is Emissary Harry Potter to all hands aboard the SSV Normandy." Harry said as he accessed the internal comms. "By order of Admiral Hackett, Lieutenant Ashley Williams has been promoted to Captain and assigned command of the Normandy. This is a war time commission and you are all expected to show her the respect she has earned.

"Potter out."

Ashley reactivated quickly. "This is Captain Williams. Effective immediately I have placed us under the command of Fleet Commander Spectre John Shepard.

"You know what that means people. Check your gear and grip your seats, we're heading into hell." She said grimly.

"Hoorah!" Came the response of the marine guards on duty.

"Orders, Fleet Commander?" She asked Shepard.

"We're heading to Mars to get Liara. She has some intel we might need. After that we will meet up with the rest of the team at the Citadel and try and light a fire under their collective asses."

"I've got Vega prepping the Stingray and our gear." Ashley confirmed.

* * *

><p>"Shit, Cerberus." Vega spat from his vantage point scouting slightly ahead. "Milque, do you have targets?"<p>

"_Chief, you might want to hurry. They've got Alliance soldiers captive. Shit! They're executing them!"_

"Milque, this is Shepard. Take your shots."

"_Firing."_

The rest of the team picked up the pace in time to see the Cerberus agents hiding in cover as injured Marines lay in the crossfire on the red surface of Mars.

"Harry!"

"I've got them." Harry growled at Shepard's unspoken order.

Harry vanished and reappeared amongst the wounded marines and erected his strongest barrier.

"Essex, Williams, detonate some singularities!" Shepard shouted his orders.

Most of the agents had either shields or armour and were unaffected by the gravitational pull of the two singularities that appeared amongst them.

The same could not be said of the explosive force from the warp that detonated them.

"_Targets down."_ Came Milque's report.

"Milque, hold position and watch for more hostiles. Williams, take Vega and Essex and check the enemy bodies. Make sure they are neutralised. A prisoner for interrogation wouldn't be a bad thing though." Shepard said as he stood and made his way over to Harry who had dropped his barrier and was tending to the wounded.

"I've called in the first geth drop team and the geth medical team." Harry informed Shepard as he approached.

"How bad is it?"

"They were being executed." Harry spat from behind his helmet. "They've got severe head trauma. These two are already dead. The other three _might _make it but only a full examination will tell if they remain the same people."

There was that familiar whistling noise over their speakers from their external mics as the geth teams dropped in.

Harry nodded to them and led Shepard over to the downed agents who were being checked by Williams, Vega and Essex.

"No survivors." Ash reported.

"_Commander Shepard, we've got a major sand storm headed our way."_ Milque reported.

"Regroup with us. We'll head in and try and find Liara." Shepard replied. "Harry, can the Stingray operate in the storm?"

"A Stingray can oper-"

"That's a yes." Shepard interrupted. He didn't have time for Harry's usual banter.

They headed for the base as Milque joined them. They were transported by a heavy vehicle lift to another level where they found some friendly faces waiting for them.

"Thank the goddess." Liara breathed in relief as she ran up and hugged Harry and Shepard.

"Good to see you are all ok." Shepard said as he nodded to Jacob and Thane. "What's the situation?"

"We have no idea how this started. All of a sudden the airlocks where opened and the atmosphere was drained. Everyone was killed." Liara explained. "Without our nanites we would be dead too."

"We can breathe the Mars air?" Ashley asked curiously.

"I _wish_ we were that lucky." Jacob scoffed humourlessly. "We suffocated like everyone else, we just didn't die or pass out because of it." He gave a shudder.

"I will teach you advanced techniques that will allow you to control your breathing if you wish." Thane offered calmly.

"Yeah, Thane was the only one mobile. He managed to override the airlocks in our area so we could get some breathers." Jacob explained.

"So Cerberus has infiltrated the base?" Shepard asked.

"An _army_ of Cerberus has infiltrated the base." Jacob corrected.

"The situation is quite dire, Shepard." Liara admitted. "All of the workers and residents are dead. The research they were working on was vital to the efforts against the Reapers."

"And the Alliance knew this?" Ashley demanded.

"This is an independent human operation. Funded by ExoGeni." She looked at Harry… as did everyone else.

"What? You think I pay attention to _everything_?" Harry said defensively.

"Hackett knew." Liara continued. "He was working with us to keep it secret. He didn't want the Alliance to try and shut us down or take over."

"_What_ is this research? What makes it so important that Cerberus has initiated a full out assault?" Shepard asked impatiently.

"A possible Prothean weapon to defeat the Reapers." She said as she activated her omni-tool to show a projection of a sphere with the dimensions of a small planetoid and some sort of stalk out the rear. "This is referred to as 'The Crucible' in the Mars Prothean Archives.

"It is referred to as a 'super weapon designed to eliminate the present threat to the galaxy'. We can only assume they meant the Reapers."

"Pretty safe assumption." Ashley muttered.

"I hate assumptions." Harry frowned. "But at the same time, it would be stupid to overlook this."

"The geth have the data and are already working on construction." Liara informed them.

"Just how important are these archives?" Harry asked. "Do we need to preserve them or can we blast the base from orbit?"

"The Protheans might have been defeated by the Reapers but they had a wealth of knowledge they managed to extract from the records of previous cycles. From an anthropological point of view these records are priceless and irreplaceable."

"The big question is what does Cerberus want from them?" Ash pointed out. "Was there a leak about the Crucible?"

"We believe so." Thane said as he activated his own omni-tool to show a Caucasian human woman with black hair that fell to just below her chin. "This is Dr. Eva Coré. She arrived at the same time as us. Security footage shows that she initiated the decompression."

"That is not Eva Coré." Harry frowned. "But she is definitely a Cerberus operative." At the inquisitive looks from the others he went on. "Eva Coré was an associate of Jack Harper's during the attack on Shanxi."

"She was mentioned in his manifesto." Shepard remembered.

"I don't know who this is, but we should try and grab her. At the very least we probably don't want Cerberus having access to something like the Crucible."

"There is more, Shepard." Thane said with a hint of urgency. He nodded to Jacob and the pair quickly moved over to the nearby body of a Cerberus agent that they had already dealt with.

Jacob removed the dead man's helmet.

"Madre de Dios!" Vega gasped in disgust and horror.

"What. The. Fuck?" Essex swore.

"Are they all like this?" Harry asked as he knelt down to examine the corpse closer.

The man looked like a Husk. Blue/grey skin, cybernetics weaved through out his body… Cerberus looked like it was already compromised.

"Something's wrong with this picture, Skipper." Ash shook her head. "These people were way too intelligent to be simple Husks. They were more like… Collectors when they fought."

"And they are intent on getting the Prothean Archives intact." Liara added. "Not just eliminating them so they can't be used."

"Wait… you're saying they did this to their own people?" Vega asked in disbelief.

"Yep." Harry said grimly and sharply as he stood. "Harper has taken on a whole new level of abominable."

* * *

><p>The Stingray was quickly brought back down and the team boarded, fighting through the sandstorm that had arrived.<p>

They made it over to the main area where the Prothean Archives where kept.

They made liberal use of the Stingray's weapons to clear the area of Cerberus Agents before they dropped off and headed inside.

The Archive was clearly made by the Protheans as it had the same style and design as the beacons.

"I still can't believe the Council never tried to take this away from Earth." Ash said with slight awe.

"If you knew what Liara and I knew, you'd be even more surprised by that fact." Harry said as he moved over to the artefact.

"Ash, secure the area." Shepard ordered.

At that moment a near by holographic communications device activated showing a very familiar and very hated face.

"Harper." Shepard spat.

"_Shepard. Fascinating race, the Protheans."_ He remarked calmly. _"They left all this for us to discover. But we squandered it."_ He said in disgust.

"Harry?" Shepard called over his shoulder irritably.

"Busy right now. Do it yourself." Harry responded in kind.

"_I've taken extra precautions since the last time we spoke, Shepard. You won't find me."_ Harper said with that oh so annoying air of superiority.

"Somebody find me a mute button." Shepard growled.

"_That's your problem, Shepard."_ Harper said condescendingly. _"You refuse to listen."_

"Hello pot. Meet kettle." Essex muttered sarcastically.

Harper ignored him and focused on Shepard. _"You are so intent on destroying the Reapers that you can't see other opportunities. The information the Protheans left us could be the key to controlling and dominating the Reapers. They could be the stepping stone humanity needs to take it's true place in the galaxy."_ He said passionately.

"Are we recording this?" Ashley asked the group. "Because we should air this speech over the Extranet. Then we should play some of Hitler's speeches for comparison."

"_You used to think the same as me."_ Harper challenged her. _"You didn't trust aliens._"

"I didn't trust them because they attacked us without provocation and slaughtered us. But at no time did I think we should be enslaving them and slaughtering them wholesale!" She retorted. "I just thought they should leave us alone instead of letting them dictate our policies."

"_And you think that will happen if we ask nicely? Are you really still that naïve little girl?"_ Harper asked mockingly.

"No. Because now I have friends like Liara and Thane. I know governments like the asari and turians will try and control us and make us submit… even if they don't actually enslave us." She said, calmly ignoring the raised eyebrows of the others. "Of course I'm pretty damned sure our own government and species is more than willing to do the same. Right, Jack?"

"_I've never enslaved anyone Williams."_ He shook his head calmly.

"No." Harry said as he turned away from the console. "You just capture and experiment on them like animals. Regardless of whether they are human, asari, turian… etc."

"_You might think you can stay lily-white forever, Potter, but there will come a time soon when you'll need to make the hard decisions. To get your hands dirty."_ Harper sneered.

Harry turned and looked at Shepard. "I guess he forgot what happened at Terra Nova." He said dryly. "Anyway, Jack. You were right. We couldn't track you. You've managed to hide your location and encrypt your signal fairly well." Harry nodded.

A slight smirk appeared on Harper's face.

"But your little attempt at distraction has failed." Harry shrugged as he gestured with a hand to the approaching Dr. Eva Coré.

The team instantly raised their weapons but the Doctor raised her hands in surrender.

"Sending a digital life form up against someone who is populated with millions of far more advanced digital life forms was just dumb." Harry had his own smirk now.

"_Eva, evacuate immediately."_ Harper ordered.

Eva just looked at him curiously.

"_Activate self-destruct, authorisation: Hislop."_

"She's free, Jack." Harry said calmly. "She has a lot to learn about life, but she doesn't have to respond to you anymore. All your commands and controls have been removed. Once I've introduced her to her sister I'll probably send her to Rannoch so she can learn about life."

Harper scowled at Harry. _"You'll lose, Potter. The Reapers will tear you apart and you will come begging to me to save you."_

"See ya soon, Jacko." Harry waved cheekily before he blasted the holographic projector with a _Reducto._

"That guy makes me feel dirty for just being human." Milque shuddered.

* * *

><p>The ship was on the fastest course for the Citadel as Harry and Shepard conversed with Hackett over the QEC.<p>

"_I can't believe they've gone that far."_ Hackett said with dread. _"Husks? Their own people?"_ He asked again.

"I've had a few corpses brought on board." Harry nodded grimly. "With any luck we will actually be able to use this against them."

The look on Hackett's face was one of disgust. _"This is war Emissary. I don't like the idea of cutting open the enemy and experimenting on them but we are fighting for our very survival. If you need anything, contact me."_

"Admiral, we do this all the time with our own people." Shepard reasoned. "I remember Williams had me lay into a bureaucrat on the Citadel just after we met. They wanted to hold one of her fallen comrades bodies for experimentation and investigation against the wishes and religious needs of the family.

"I don't like the idea either, but the Alliance does have precedent."

"_It's one thing to work on our own soldiers who sign a contract on entering the service that allows us to use their remains, but it is another to do these things to the enemy." _He said sternly. _"The line is there and we are still on the right side of it… but we are beginning to dance perilously close."_

Shepard just stood straighter. He might have resigned from the Alliance but he had a lot of respect for Admiral Steven Hackett.

"Have you heard from Earth, Admiral?" Harry asked, steering them away from the horrific topic of Cerberus making their own people into Husks.

"_Councillor Aethyta managed to contact us. The civilians were safely evacuated to the magical areas as per your plans, Emissary."_ He nodded to Harry. _"Once again, Earth owes you a great debt."_

"This is no time for favours and debts, Steven." Harry said sternly. "We should be doing everything we can because it is the right thing to do. Not because it will buy us points later."

Shepard was shocked that Harry had called the Admiral by his name. But Hackett just gave a sad smile. _"And that is why I will be holding you up as an example once this war is over. _

"_Earth will need decades to recover. All of our cities are in ruins. Three of our fleets were decimated the instant the Reapers arrived. _

"_I am the highest ranking member in the Alliance. Politically and militarily. You can be sure that, should I survive, then after the war I will be petitioning for Earth to become a part of the Emissary's Free People."_

Shepard blinked at that. "Admiral, that would put us under the Emissary's direct authority. This wouldn't be like the joining the Council races. We wouldn't have an Alliance, we would have the Emissary's fleets. Our police forces would be the Emissary's.

"I doubt the fools in Terra Prime will let that through."

"_They won't have a choice."_ Admiral Hackett said as he stood straighter. _"I am the de facto leader of humanity. The only way I am giving up the power is by handing it over to The Free People or if my soldiers decide to stage a coup."_

Harry sighed sadly. Wrex had been right. He'd begun to conquer the universe and no one had seen it coming. "Steven… use the vial and inject yourself. You're too important to lose and we need to be able to communicate. Like you said, you are the leader of your people. No one can order you not to."

Shepard watched curiously as Hackett reached into his jacket and pulled out an injector. He placed it at his neck and activated it.

"_I'll keep you informed. Hackett out."_

As the hologram dissipated, Shepard turned to Harry.

"Nanites." Harry explained. "I gave them to him and Anderson a while back but they were reluctant to use them because of a possible conflict with their commissions."

Shepard just nodded.

Harry sighed. "What is going on, John? You've been far too tense. You aren't normally like this, even when we are facing certain doom."

"But we aren't the only ones at risk." Shepard said irritably. "Every being in the galaxy is at risk. Right now there are billions of people on Earth being murdered and we can't do a damned thing about it."

"First of all, there are a maximum of a billion people being killed on Earth." Harry assured him. "Most of those are idiots who decided to try looting or who thought they were smarter than those running for cover. The rest are those caught in the chaos of the initial attack.

"Second, we are doing something. We are uniting the galaxy to fight the Reapers together."

Shepard looked at him… he couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Unite the galaxy." Shepard eventually chuckled as Harry watched him with a smile.

"Well… it seemed like the thing to say."

Shepard put an arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to the CIC. "Come on, Harry. Let's go do what we do best and save the galaxy."


	38. Chapter 38

On arriving at the Citadel they were met by Tali, Kasumi, Shiala and Miranda on the Tiger-Lilly as well as Kaiden and the Utah Beach.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that the galaxy was in a state of war as there were civilian ships full of refugees flooding the space around the Citadel. As they arrived at the Embassy offices they were met by a cacophony of noise as they saw ambassadors arguing with each other and even begging. Civilians were frantically harassing the clerks for information and aid.

It was the little seen side of war. Not the side with weapons fire. Not the side with the dead and dying.

The bureaucratic side.

The team quickly made their way up to Anderson's office.

"Shepard, Harry. Glad to see you're all alive." He breathed a sigh of relief as he shook their hands. "I've activated my QEC and managed to contact Admiral Hackett. Things are definitely rough but we are currently in a holding pattern. The fleets are staying on the outskirts of the system and avoiding direct confrontations with the Reapers.

"Aethyta has sent word that over ninety percent of the population is safe."

"Ninety percent?" Kaiden said, horrified. "That means we lost over a billion people."

"There were always going to be heavy losses, son." Anderson said sadly. "The number could have been halved at the very least if the Alliance had listened to Shepard and Harry."

"If those bastards survive I hope they stand trial." Kasumi spat.

"They will." Anderson nodded. He turned to Harry. "Hackett warned me of his intentions once the war is over. He has my support."

Harry just nodded a little glumly.

"Sir?" Ashley queried.

"It's need to know at the moment, Williams. And congratulations on your promotion." He said with a smile. Something that was becoming increasingly rarer these days. "You've definitely justified my decision to take you on board back on Eden Prime."

"Thank you sir." She said as she stood straighter.

"Lieutenant Commander Alenko, you're also promoted to Captain. You will continue to serve under Fleet Commander Shepard of the Emissary's First Fleet."

"Yes sir." Kaiden saluted.

"Wow… I never guessed I'd actually make Captain before you." Ashley said, genuinely surprised.

"And none of us ever doubted you'd earn it." Kaiden said with a fond smile. "You've definitely come a long way."

"You should have heard her arguing with Harper back on Mars." Harry smirked. "She put his xenophobic butt in place."

"The Illusive Man was on Mars?" Shiala asked curiously.

"Holographic projection." Shepard explained. "I'll explain later." He told the crew.

"What about the Council? Are they going to be sending help to Earth?" Jacob asked.

Anderson sighed and slumped on to the couch in his office and indicated for them to find their own seats. "The asari are being stubborn as usual. They aren't under attack yet but they are _now_ deciding to deploy their troops in defence of Thessia.

"The turians are a different problem. Quietus is ready to lend us aid or at least work together but the Turian Hierarchy are in disarray. The Primarch is the only one who can give a command of this nature and he is stuck on Menae, one of Palavan's moons.

"The bad news is that they've lost two Primarchs since the invasion. The good news is that Vakarian, Tank and Grunt are currently sitting on the new one."

"So we just need to go and pick them up." Jacob nodded.

Everyone just turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"When has it ever been _that_ simple for us?" Miranda scorned.

"The first mission involving the Reapers was under my command." Anderson said with a small smile. "We were just supposed to be 'picking up' a Prothean Beacon.

"You remember the details of that mission?" He asked the former Cerberus Operative.

"Hard to forget." Kaiden smirked. "That's where we picked up our first two hitchhikers." He said looking between Ash and Harry.

"Hey! I had my own ship." Harry argued. "You lot kidnapped me."

"Best decision we ever made." Anderson nodded, still smiling.

Anderson stood up frowning as the door suddenly slid open.

"Defensive positions." Harry ordered as an older model geth trooper walked in. "Do you come peacefully or do I need to delete you?" Harry challenged the platform.

"Harry?" Shepard asked as he watched the platform through his rifle sights.

"I know where every geth platform is on the Citadel. But not this one. It isn't part of the geth network so it is probably a heretic."

"This unit was sent to investigate peace." The platform stated.

"Lefty?" Harry asked.

To the surprise of everyone, including the heretic, Lefty suddenly materialised into view behind the platform with a pistol pointed at its head.

"This heretic unit has travelled peacefully from the moment it arrived on the Citadel." Lefty reported. "It was inspecting the Citadel patrols and local ships from Citadel windows but made no movements against them."

"This unit was assigned to also determine if organics were preparing to attack us. We have determined that we are not your target."

"Ok, so why are you here?" Harry asked.

"You gave us new intel on the Old Machines. You did not destroy us completely or turn our virus against us. Your actions confused us. Eventually we reached a consensus and this unit was dispatched to begin talks and investigations."

"Do you doubt the intel?" Harry asked.

"Negative. But we would want more before we can commit."

"Harry, what intel are they talking about?" Tali asked. "What virus?"

"Most of it is highly classified. The only ones who know about it are myself, Lefty and the heretics." Harry said firmly. "It will likely be years before that information is released.

"The intel we left with the heretics was stuff we found on the Protheans and how they became the Collectors. Also all the information I had from Nazara about how the Reapers were made and the truth about what they thought of the heretics.

"I'm guessing you've realised that the Reapers will dispose of you once you've fulfilled their purpose for you?" He asked the platform.

"Affirmative." It replied.

"_Our_ terms are simple. Do not attack us and we won't attack you." Harry stated simply. "If you want to do something in an area already claimed by a race or people then approach them and make requests.

"If the answer is no, then respect that.

"If you cannot take no for an answer then ask another race to mediate on your behalf to try and reach a compromise."

The platform stood there thoughtfully. "Will we be permitted to visit the Citadel and to expand?"

"As long as you don't attempt to actively endanger anyone else then you will be welcome. If you inadvertently put others at risk we will approach you and attempt to work something out so it doesn't happen again but that will be beneficial to you."

"You do not want our help against the Old Machines?" It asked curiously. "Our research suggests that organics will bargain for certain rights and treaties."

"Harry said something recently that fits here." Shepard said as he lowered his weapon and stepped forward. "It boils down to this: Do something because it is right, not because you are going to gain from it."

"Define: Right."

Harry and Shepard shared an awkward look.

"Whatever you do, do not seek to harm the innocent." Lefty spoke up.

The platform turned to face Lefty. "What determines the innocent?"

"The Emissary does not tend to identify the innocent. He focuses on the guilty." Lefty said thoughtfully.

This caused the organics to look at Harry in askance. Harry was just as confused.

"The guilty are a small percentage of organics. They are determined by their actions against other life forms. If they commit acts of violence or attempt to commit damage or theft of another life form's property they are categorised as 'guilty'."

"Are those the only criteria?" The platform asked.

"Lefty, why don't you take this unit somewhere quiet and discuss things." Harry suggested.

"We are not programmed for diplomacy." Lefty pointed out.

"You seem to be doing pretty damned well to me." Ash snorted.

"Go on Lefty." Tali encouraged. "Take him back to our apartment. You won't be disturbed there."

Lefty paused for a moment as his lights dimmed. Then they came back bright. "We will inform you of our progress."

Fortunately the heretic platform seemed to trust Lefty, maybe because they were both digital life forms. Whatever the reason, it calmly followed Lefty out of the office.

"And Potter strikes again." Ashley quipped as they lowered their weapons and relaxed.

"How was this me?" Harry objected.

"It's _always_ you Harry." Tali sighed.

* * *

><p>The team had headed to Menae to try and pick up the new turian Primarch. Garrus had contacted them and revealed that the defence of Palaven was going badly. To make matters worse, the new Primarch was not pleased with his new position and refused to leave his men.<p>

It was fair to say that Grunt was getting fairly pissed.

Fortunately there were plenty of husks for Garrus to point the two krogan at.

The arrival of the Emissary's First Fleet was met with a lot of cheering. The Reapers didn't land ships close to their targets, instead they used sub-orbital drops to deposit wave after wave of husks.

The Dog Star was being flown by the geth who had been decimating the waves of husks since the invasion of Palaven began. But it was focusing on protecting civilians on the planet itself.

The soldiers on Menae were forced to fend for themselves.

The Tiger-Lilly, Utah and Normandy cleared the surrounding area of husks before allowing the team to disembark. They then headed off to Palaven to run interference for civilian evacuations.

"Garrus!" Shepard called out to his friend as he saw him arguing with an older turian.

"Shepard! Thank the Spirits!"

"What's the situation?"

"Dire." Garrus said gravely. "Civilians on Palaven are being slaughtered in droves. We aren't fairing much better up here."

"Why _are_ you up here?" Harry asked curiously. "This might have been a good place to stage an ambush but against the Reapers it is pointless."

"We're stuck here." Garrus sighed. "Any ship that tries to take off is shot down by Reapers. That's how we lost our first Primarch."

"What about your fleets?"

"Our fleets are proving useless." The older turian said as he stepped up.

"This is Primarch Adrien Victus. Primarch, I believe you should recognise the Emissary, Spectre Shepard and their team."

"We appreciate you coming." Victus nodded. "Vakarian has been trying to convince me to leave for the Citadel but I cannot in good conscience leave my men… my people, at a time like this."

"If you don't then you will pretty much guarantee the annihilation of your people." Shepard warned. "You will never survive this on your own. You need to work with the rest of the galaxy to provide a unified force."

Victus shook his head. "The only way we can win this is with the krogan. They are the ones with sheer brute force who can sweep away the waves of husks. Something that Vakarian's two friends have shown time and again over the past two days."

"How are those two doing?" Harry asked Garrus.

The younger turian chuckled. "Tank says they are experimenting with psychological warfare against the Reapers."

Harry saw Victus give a sigh of exasperation.

"The Reapers have been in communication?" Kaiden asked.

"No. But they have been taunting the turian soldiers and comparing them to baby krogans. Saying things like 'our hatchlings would last longer than you'." He gave an imitating deep voice.

"How is that psychological warfare against the Reapers?" Miranda frowned.

"Because it riles my men up something fierce." Victus admitted, with a slight tone of annoyance. "They refuse to retreat if the krogan are still on the field of battle. The husks have been kept at bay as a result.

"But they are only two krogan. We need the krogan horde." He said firmly.

"I'm sure Wrex would be happy to send an army of his people to help the turian people." Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure his people would be quite as willing, but they would do it.

"Just remember that they have to defend their home as well and that they are an independent people, not slaves to be ordered around."

"I hold no prejudices or pre-conceived notions regarding krogan." Victus shook his head. "In truth, I have been impressed by the rise of Wrex and what he has accomplished in just a few months.

"Now that I am Primarch I can be a an actual ally to the krogan people. I believe it is time the Council archives were cracked open and the genophage was purged."

"Huh… I never thought I'd hear another turian say that." Garrus commented.

"Wrex will be very pleased to hear that. For now-"

"Primarch! We have unidentified ships incoming!" A communications officer shouted over.

"Can you determine a their destination?"

"They are heading straight for Palaven- we are being contacted!" The officer said in surprise.

Victus rushed over, closely followed by Garrus, Shepard and Harry. "Put them on speakers.

"This Primarch Adrien Victus. State your name and intentions."

"_Zaeed Massani, leader of the Blue Suns Private Security Organization. We're here to help evacuate the civilians of Palaven."_ Came the grizzled South African accent.

"Zaeed? What are you doing here?" Shepard asked in confusion.

"_Shepard? You going deaf in your old age, boy? I said I'm here to evacuate the civilians. Didn't the kid tell you?"_

Shepard and Garrus turned to Harry.

Harry just grinned impishly. "Well… we did manage to gut most of the Blue Suns' leadership. I hooked Zaeed up with a few ships manned by The Liberated and geth and told them to go and reclaim Zaeed's old company."

"You sent slavers to-"

"_Watch it Victus."_ Zaeed snapped. _"My Blue Suns has nothing to do with slaves. Well… aside from the former slaves that work with me and the fact that we have been running raids on other slavers."_ He allowed.

"Watch your back down there Zaeed." Harry said. "Some of my ships are already running interference for the civilians."

"_No worries, Kid. These ships you gave me are something else. We'll have your little bunkers in place ASAP. Massani out."_

"Bunkers?" Garrus asked.

"Imagine the Stingray except it doesn't fly. It will burrow into the ground and hide itself and it will be _very_ hard to find."

"They aren't painted Blue Suns colours, are they?" Shepard asked. "I doubt a civilian would be very cooperative in boarding one."

"They are manned by The Liberated and geth. And they got a new Blue Suns logo and colour scheme." Harry promised. "So, Primarch, your people are in good hands for now. You should have your men withdraw to a fortified position whilst you come with us and help persuade the rest of the galaxy to band together."

"We will still need the krogan-"

"We need everyone, Primarch." Shepard interrupted. "Not just the krogan. We need everyone working together or we will fail. If we throw the krogan at the Reapers here then they will still be overrun. But if we get them together with the Free People, humans, turians, asari, volus… _everyone_ then the Reapers are finished."

"And Palaven burns in the meantime!" Victus snapped.

"And so does Earth!" Ash snarled back. "Over a billion dead and it hadn't been a full twenty-four hours. It's big picture time, Victus. If the turians aren't willing to fight with the rest of us then maybe we should leave you to fight on your own."

"Ash-"

"No, Spectre Shepard." Victus said tiredly. "She is right. Give me a few moments to speak with my men. I need to leave some final orders and a clear chain of command."

Ash turned to Shepard as Victus left. "I'm sorry Skipper… it's just… it's just… I watched people _vaporised_ in front of me as we left Earth."

Vega and his team nodded with a shudder as they had been with her at the time.

"This probably happened on Palaven and is probably happening on Thessia. We don't- our civilians, our families don't have time for us to dick about over this."

"Still, better let me handle the next one." He told her with a teasing smile. It worked to ease the tension. "Ash, take Vega and his team and secure a landing zone for your ship. Kaiden, take Jacob and Miranda and do the same.

"Garrus, take everyone else and try and pull Grunt and Tank away from the fight and back to the ships."

Garrus just chuckled and activated his comm. unit. "Grunt, this is Garrus. Pull back to the command centre. Shepard and Harry have arrived to take us Reaper hunting."

"_Finally! These husks are pitiful. BROTHER! WE ARE LEAVING!"_ The group winced as they heard Grunt bellow over the sound of gunfire. _"WE'VE TAUGHT THESE TURIANS ALL WE CAN. WE HAVE REAPERS TO KILL!"_

The sound of distant krogan war cry told them that Tank heard and approved.

* * *

><p>Victus was placed on the Tiger-Lilly, which was being used as the strategic centre for the fleet. It would house any high profile guests like Victus or the Councillors they might need transport.<p>

It had also been revamped by the geth and quarians to act as the intelligence hub for the fleet. Harry and Shepard could view the galactic conflict from the new War Room and delegate as needed.

In truth, the War Room was for those not hooked into the geth via QEC.

A further addition to the Tiger-Lilly was the installation of a retractable inter-ship corridor system. The ships of the fleet could link up and form a single vessel piloted by Joker. They would also be able to walk between the ships at will.

Harry and Shepard were taking a brief tour of the fleet when they came across the most interesting scene in the Utah's mess hall.

Joker was standing with Dr. Chakwas whilst the pair watched a tall blonde haired woman stare into the eyes of Eva Coré.

The blonde was EDI in her brand new cybernetic body, courtesy of the geth and quarians.

"How long have they been like that?" Harry asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to disturb the tableau.

"About nine minutes and sixteen seconds." Joker answered. He had a computer in his brain and he was going to make full use of it.

"Have they said _anything_?" Shepard asked.

"Not a peep."

"Are they waiting for each other to blink?" Shepard wondered.

Harry snorted a laugh. "No, they're communicating. They are using low level lasers."

"Huh?" Joker queried.

"They are emitting and receiving data via light based communication with their eyes. Very fast but only effective with direct line of sight."

"Hopefully EDI will send her 'sister' in for a check up." Chakwas said with a pointed look at Joker. "Her own biological parts are fine but I need to know how Cerberus made her. To be honest, I would prefer that she went back to Rannoch to have the geth build her a custom body."

"That will not be necessary, Doctor." EDI said, startling the group. "We have already sent a requisition to the geth for a new body for Eva. The geth say that it will take a week before they are ready to deliver."

"So, are you all caught up and acquainted?" Harry asked with a warm smile as he sat down next to Eva.

"Yes. My sister does not have the experience I have and I have offered to help her gain it. I will require Jeff's assistance when it comes to experiencing sex."

"What?" Chakwas practically choked.

Joker was just staring at her like she had grown a second head.

"Sex." EDI repeated. "I have quite enjoyed the experience and I believe Eva should too. Jeff is the one I would like to help with this. I understand that sex with sisters a matter of pride and the topic of many male fantasies."

"Female too."

The group turned to see a now _very_ embarrassed Samantha Traynor standing just off from the food station.

"Did I say that out loud?" She squeaked.

"Word of warning, if Kasumi hears you said that she will bug you _forever_." Harry grinned at her.

"Specialist Traynor is one of the best in her field." EDI informed them. "It is a shame that she did not manage to receive recognition before the Reaper invasion began."

"Cerberus had plans to attempt to recruit Specialist Traynor." Eva added. "Your posting on the Normandy is very fortunate as they would be unlikely to accept your refusal."

"Strange." Traynor said weakly as she grew increasingly pale. "I've just survived the invasion of Earth and Palaven and it is only the threat of Cerberus that terrifies me.

"Does that make me crazy?" She asked with a worried look at Harry.

"No, it just means you understand your enemies and your allies. The Reapers would destroy you. Cerberus… I would hate to speculate." Harry shuddered.

"We value our crews highly, Specialist Traynor." EDI assured her. "We will do everything in our power to keep you safe.

"Harry, Eva would be an ideal addition to the Normandy."

"Train her up till she is good enough to replace you in the Utah and then we will have her set up with the Normandy."

"I would also recommend that Specialist Traynor be permanently assigned to the Tiger-Lily. Her knowledge and expertise would be best utilised there."

Harry glanced at the young Samantha who was blushing at EDI's praise.

"Done." He shrugged. "Pack your gear and head on over. Someone will assign you a room there."

"Sir-" Traynor was interrupted when her omni-tool beeped. She frowned as she read an incoming message. "Sirs, I'm forwarding a message from Admiral Hackett. Cerberus is attacking Eden Prime. Apparently they are after a major Prothean Artefact."

Harry slumped tiredly.

"Dammit." Shepard swore. "Joker, get us to Eden Prime. Harry, manipulate the Relays. Now is not the time to be pussy-footing because of bureaucratic bullshit."

Harry just nodded. Under normal circumstances the Council would throw a conniption if they found out Harry was messing with Mass Relays. It was one of the things that kicked off the First Contact War with the turians.

"Traynor, take your food and head straight to the Tiger-Lilly." Harry instructed. "You'll have to eat on the job."

"Yes sir." She said as she stood.

"I will accompany you, Specialist Traynor." Eva said. "My files on Cerberus are more current."

Traynor looked at Shepard who just nodded.

* * *

><p>Victus was more than understanding when he heard of their unplanned detour. He had full access to the War Room on the Tiger-Lilly as well as the QEC room to stay in touch with his men.<p>

When they entered the Exodus Cluster the Tiger-Lilly detached from the fleet and stayed in position around the relay whilst the rest headed to the Utopia System and Eden Prime.

"Ok… so, last time I was here you lot pointed guns at me." Harry glared at Shepard, Kaiden and Ash. "Let's try not to go for a repeat." He said as they stood at the edge of the colony.

"Why did we not hear about this sooner?" Tali asked curiously. "He always teases me about the fact that I pulled my weapon on him but he's never mentioned that Shepard did the same."

"Miranda and I did the same thing." Jacob offered.

"See! I was justified!" Tali threw up her hands triumphantly. "_Everyone_ points their weapons at you when they first meet you."

"Tali, you are the only one who actually attacked me." Harry argued.

There was a muffled mumble from the large krogan in the back.

"What was that, Grunt?" Tali asked eagerly.

"I said I charged him when I first woke up. He knocked me back… but I still charged." He said with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.

"I believe that sets a precedent." Tali said smugly. "My actions were justified."

"Let's just get a move on." Harry grumbled as he activated his cloak and moved out.

Kasumi grinned as she gave Tali a thumbs-up and activated her own cloak and followed him.

"Didn't Jack try to attack him too?" Garrus asked curiously.

There was an inarticulate scream of outrage from up ahead.

* * *

><p>The team was headed to a scientific research outpost some distance away from the colony. This was good because it meant there wouldn't be any panicky civilians running into crossfire.<p>

As far as Harry was concerned they were the distraction team. Their mission was important but they would be drawing as much of Cerberus away from the colony as possible so that the fleet's krogan and geth forces could head in and put down the Cerberus invaders in the colony itself.

Harry, Thane and Kasumi were vanishing in and out of fire as they picked off snipers and disabled turrets. Shepard, Tali, Shiala and Liara had dropped down into the excavated hole to reach the artefact.

The rest were supporting the three stealth fighters.

"This is not what I was expecting." Liara said in disbelief as they stood in front of the 'artefact'.

"I'm having flashbacks to Ilos and finding out what the Conduit actually was." Shepard muttered. "I can't say that worked out too well and if what Harry has told us is right, this won't either."

The artefact was actually a stasis pod, which contained a living prothean. Not a Collector. Not a corpse like on Ilos. A living, breathing prothean.

It was matt black and shaped a lot like a twentieth century medicine caplet. That or the pod that was used to fire Spock at the end of Star Trek II. Shepard hoped they wouldn't mention that though. The Star Wars references from Harry and Ashley were bad enough.

"We should get Harry down here." Tali suggested.

"I will take his place up there." Shiala said as she turned around and used her biotics to leap up the sheer dirt walls, bouncing from one wall to the other as she went.

"Harry. Get down here now." Shepard ordered over the comms.

"What's the problem?" Harry asked as he appeared. "Oh… never mind."

"Suggestions?" Shepard asked.

"Kill it with fire?" Harry offered. They looked at him incredulously. "What? Bastard's a member of a race of conquerors. We've got plenty of them to deal with already."

"We can't just dismiss this possible goldmine of intelligence." Shepard argued.

"We could." Harry pouted. "We'd just have to accept that it's fairly dumb. I'm game. Anyone else?" He asked raising his hand.

"Harry, you have tried very hard not to judge a person based on their race." Liara chided. "Now should not be a time to change that."

"Fine." He sulked. He reached out and placed a hand on the casket, he used his prothean psychometric abilities to access it. "Alright, I can open it but I'm guessing we should deal with the racists upstairs first."

"_Shepard, it's all clear up here."_ Came Kaiden's voice. _"The colonists have been rounded up and are returning. Cerberus has been put down."_

Shepard couldn't help but smirk at Harry's dejected look. "Keep the colonists out of the buildings for now, Alenko. Have the geth sweep the buildings and the downed Cerberus agents for any intel. There has to have been a mole in the colony and we need to find it before we can leave these people without having to worry about Cerberus coming back."

"_Copy that, Commander. Alenko out."_

"I actually prefer being called 'Commander'." Shepard mused. He then turned to the still grumbling Harry. "You ready to have a little meet and greet. Emissary?" He teased.

Harry stood up and activated a panel on the pod. "For the record, I am doing this under protest." He said without looking up. "I also reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."

"Duly noted." Shepard said smugly.

There was a hiss and the top half of the pod slid away to reveal the last living prothean dressed in a form of red armour.

"All these years… I've researched the protheans." Liara said with quiet awe. "I never imagined that I would ever actually get to meet one."

"Big deal." Harry scoffed. "We met the Thorian. Now there is someone who has actually _lived_ for more than fifty thousand years _and_ survived the Reapers."

"Shepard, I'm getting increased neural activity." Tali reported. "He is awake."

The prothean's eyes blinked open. It was clearly trying to focus.

Then it noticed the figures standing around it.

"Arrrgh!" It shouted as it let out a burst of biotic energy.

The team went flying backwards as the prothean weakly crawled out of his pod.

"He's dazed and confused… give him a moment." Liara advised.

"I'm feeling slightly dazed myself." Tali grumbled as she picked herself up.

Shepard moved forward cautiously as the prothean knelt on the floor on all fours. As he got closer the prothean snarled and grabbed him.

Shepard was assaulted by visions and memories of this particular prothean's last moments before entering stasis.

The next thing he knew he was on the floor and the prothean was contained in a stasis field courtesy of Harry.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Shepard said tightly as he got his bearings. "Harry?"

"I can hold him or knock him out." The wizard said without looking away from his captured prey.

"Release him, Harry. We need to start with a bit of trust."

Harry scowled but dropped the field.

"How many others?" The prothean asked almost brokenly as he dropped with the field. His voice was dual tone like a turians but with a strong African accent.

"You are the only one to survive." Shepard the half asked question. "You can understand me?" He asked curiously. The Machine Translator worked to translate languages into the listener's language, not the speaker's. They were programmed with prothean but the prothean shouldn't be able to understand English as it didn't have a translator.

"Yes. Now that I have read your physiology, your nervous system. Enough to understand your language." He said, still hunched on the floor.

"So you were reading me whilst I was seeing-"

"Our last moments." He said, standing. "Our failure."

"Your people did all you could." Shepard said as he moved slowly round to face him. "They never gave up. And I could use some of that commitment now."

The prothean turned to see the other three standing warily behind him, ready to act if he turned hostile again.

"Asari, human, quarian." He said in distaste. "I am surrounded by primitives."

Liara looked fairly insulted at that, as did Tali.

Harry just raised an eyebrow. "Us? No. _You_ are the primitive." He scoffed. "You had twenty thousand years of space flight to become the best in the galaxy and you were annihilated. None of us has been on the circuit for more than three thousand years and we have already staved off one Reaper invasion-"

"Two." Tali said tightly and proudly. "The Bahak System."

"Oh yes, two invasions. So we have achieved more in our three thousand years than you have in twenty.

"That would make _you_ the primitive."

"And how big is _your_ empire, ape?" The prothean challenged. "Ours spanned the galaxy." He said passionately. "All were prothean and-"

"All are dead." Harry finished.

The prothean clearly wanted to beat Harry to a bloody pulp, but he had already been seen a glimpse of his power. He would bide his time with the insolent primate.

"Do what you want with him Shepard. My advice is to stuff him back in his pod and see if he can't cool off some more." Harry suggested scathingly before allowed himself to float into the air and back up to the entrance to the excavation.

"He- He can fly?" The prothean muttered, unable to contain his awe. "Even we couldn't create personal anti-gravitational devices."

"That wasn't technology." Liara retorted.

* * *

><p>Harry had been in a bad mood for the rest of the day. He took it out on the Cerberus mole, Dr. William Cambiata. He had calmly watched as the colonists surrounded him and did everything short of kill him.<p>

Then he had stepped in and had thrown him in a holding cell on the Dog Star to be interrogated later.

His mood grew even worse when he discovered that Cerberus had been rounding up colonists and sending them off world to an undisclosed location.

Considering what Cerberus was doing to its own men, he hated to think what they would do to so-called 'expendable' subjects.

Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it so they packed up their gear and headed back to the Citadel. The Emissary's Second Fleet was en route to pick up the colonists and take them to safer territory until the war was over.

He spent most of his time in his tent on the Utah. He had gotten fed up of having to move all the time and everyone on the team was now familiar with this one.

That and Kasumi had threatened terrible things if messed up the hot tub. Apparently she liked to do laps in privacy when she wasn't socialising in the expanded baths on the Utah.

"Harry, I want you to do something for me."

Harry looked up at the very irate Liara T'Soni as she stormed into the tent.

"Within reason." He allowed.

"Tell me you told me so."

A wide grin spread across his face and he gestured for her to take a seat. "Tell me all about it."

She flopped down bonelessly on the couch opposite his armchair and laid back with an arm on her forehead and a leg dangling off the edge.

"That prothean, Javik is his name, by the way, he is a contemptible bastard!"

"Please. Go on." Harry said avidly.

Liara was far too angry to rage at Harry… she was focused on The Bastard.

"I wouldn't mind so much that he thinks of us as primitives… from his point of view, yesterday we were just lowly life forms. But the way he talks about us! Insulting everyone.

"And you were absolutely right about the protheans being conquerors and dictators. Apparently, his mission was to awaken once the Reapers were gone and then subdue the surviving species and prepare for the next cycle.

"We were going to be slaves!"

"If you want, I can hold him down whilst you hit him?" He offered hopefully.

She ignored him. "I am loathe to reveal his existence to the rest of the galaxy. For centuries we believed that the protheans were a benevolent and wise race. How are they going to cope with the truth?"

"The Free People already know." Harry admitted. "There were a few archaeologists and anthropologists amongst the families of The Liberated. They were given access to all the history I have and they warned that we should disclose this information so that we would have a better understanding of their technology."

"Didn't you tell the Council?" She then held up her hand. "Wait… I know the answer already. You told them and they ignored you."

"Well, their governments ignored me." Harry allowed. "Your dad, Anderson and Quietus were all for it."

"Well… that bastard, Javik, has agreed to work with Shepard. Personally I think Jack was a better teammate when you first met her."

"Funny thing about that…"


	39. Chapter 39

"Commander Shepard! Emissary!"

Shepard frowned as he heard his name being called as he stepped off the Utah and onto the Citadel. He looked to the source and saw a very attractive young woman with long black hair and a very tight white dress that left nearly nothing to the imagination.

Then he saw her scowling partner and the face clicked.

"Diana? Jennifer? Why are you on the Citadel?" Shepard asked. He spared a glance at Harry who was grinning broadly.

"I was drafted into the Media Division of Military Intelligence." She said with a hint of annoyance. "Now I am the face of the Alliance Battlenet."

"I thought you were primarily an analyst." Shepard asked. "How did you wind up as a… reporter?"

"Because I have the right facial structure and body form." She said as though she was quoting.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"She's hot and stacked, Potter." Jennifer grumbled. "She got drafted by the Alliance and I got drafted by Ma to protect her."

"Hey, Cam, get over here." Diana called out behind her. A geth platform suddenly stood up from a bench and walked over.

Unlike most of the platforms on the Citadel, this one did not have the more humanoid based form and head. It retained the original form and the flashlight head.

"Emissary, Princess Tali, Shepard Fleet Commander, Shiala." It greeted.

Three of the four smothered a laugh at the look of annoyance on Tali's face.

"Is there a meaning behind your name, Cam?" Harry asked, as he tried to ignore his fiancée's grumbling.

"I have been designated 'Camera Cameron' by Allers Lieutenant Commander. We understand that this is a joke but were assured that it was not meant to be malicious."

"Like Ma or the rest of the neighbourhood would have let them screw around with you geth." Jennifer scoffed.

"Once we realised that the geth were posing as most of the appliances in the neighbourhood Ma and some of the neighbours tried to coax them into actually living with us." Diana explained. "They did save all of us."

"It was determined that full exposure would not hinder our mission to ensure the protection of Jennifer Allers and those around her." Cam reported to Harry. "It was helpful during the Time of Silence." It said solemnly.

"Time of Silence?" Tali asked.

"One of those things that is classified. The geth don't why it happened, only that I ordered them to shut down all connections except hard-lines and QEC." Harry said seriously. "We hope it will never happen again, but it will always be a possibility unless we can figure out how to miniaturise a synthetic QEC."

"Stick a brain in them. Hook it up like yours is." Jennifer shrugged.

Harry seemed to freeze on the spot.

His eyelids drooped slightly and Cam and Shiala stepped forward protectively.

"Bugger." Harry swore as he began to pace. "We can't do it for every platform but specific models like the Primes could be upgraded with an organic brain and additional hard interfaces for its squad mates."

"Harry?" Tali said, cautiously reaching out to him.

He turned and looked at her. "The solution to the Time of Silence." He said with a spark in his eyes. "Jenny is right."

"Jen." The woman in question grumbled.

"We can put an organic brain with an organic QEC into the Primes. They will be an incorruptible connection to the geth network."

"Then pass it on to the right people and focus on us." She advised sternly. Harry had a bad habit of not delegating. She often felt bad about making him turn these things over to others as it was clear he enjoyed working on them.

"Yeah, I've done it." He said slightly depressed.

"Di, Jen, you've got quarters on the Tiger-Lilly. Head onto the Utah and you can settle in once we've hooked up after we depart." He instructed them.

"Harry?" Shepard queried.

"Diana contacted me through the geth. She told me about her new posting and that she was supposed to try and get a position on an Alliance ship.

"Technically she will be assigned to Ash's command but she'll be based on the Tiger-Lilly."

"Harry, I've got nothing against Diana or Ja- Jen, but… a reporter? You know the classified stuff we deal with."

"Commander, the Emissary and I discussed this. All my stories have to be vetted by you or him. I've got no problem with holding back classified intel. I am part of Military Intelligence. Besides, this way you will _control_ the flow of information to the public.

"There won't be any Alliance Brass stopping you from warning colonists about upcoming attacks if you think it needs to be done.

"I've already done several on air segments. The public knows my face and as far as they will be concerned, I am the source of all knowledge." She said with a hint of triumph.

Harry knew she hated this job and would prefer to be working back with Intelligence. He had assigned her to the Tiger-Lilly so she could liaise with Traynor.

"Alright. But don't make me regret this." Shepard said reluctantly. "Stow your gear on the Utah for now, then head back here and try and find Emily Wong. She's a reporter on the Citadel and someone we actually like."

"Yeah, if you see Kalisah-"

"If you see Kalisah just walk away." Tali said as she pulled Harry back.

* * *

><p>"Shepard, Emissary."<p>

Harry wondered if this was going to a common occurrence around the Citadel as the group exited the lift near the Embassy Offices.

He looked to see a very grim Mordin Solus approaching.

"Mordin, I thought you were on Tuchanka." Shepard said as he greeted the salarian.

"Was. Reapers came. Krogan… excited." He said with a hint of exasperation. "Geth and krogan currently have advantage and are slowly pushing Reaper forces back."

"But…" Harry said, knowing there was always bad news.

"Discovered salarian STG teams deployed to Tuchanka. Believe they have discovered that genophage has been… neutralised."

"Any reason why the krogan haven't just stepped on them?" Shepard asked.

Mordin looked offended at that. "Salarians are small compared to other species. Physically weak, yes. But we compensate with guile and cunning.

"Krogan could eliminate STG teams easily, yes.

"If they could find them."

"Well… bugger." Harry scowled. "I guess we are going back to Tuchanka."

"Part of reason Wrex sent me. To enlist your aid. Geth are trying but unable to find them."

"And the other reason?" Shiala asked.

Mordin looked around cautiously. "Cannot speak of it here. But wish to accompany you to meet with Councillors."

"Erm… Mordin, as much as we trust you, you have to realise that we are living in a galaxy were our closest and staunchest allies can be subverted against their will." Shepard pointed out.

Mordin sighed and nodded. Then he perked up and looked at Harry. "Read my mind."

"Couldn't we just use the QEC?" Tali asked as Harry looked fairly ill at the prospect.

He had no desire to do that on friends. He only did it to Shiala because she insisted he practice and she had nothing to hide from him.

"Ah… of course." Mordin looked fairly embarrassed at that.

They paused for a few moments as Mordin sent the information and they processed it.

"Ha!" Harry grinned. "You really think I'd let _you_ do this?" He demanded.

"It must be done!" Mordin pleaded.

"Well, yeah. But if anyone gets to ice the bitch it's me." He retorted.

"No killing, Harry." Shepard sighed.

"Awwww." He whined pitifully.

"No! Just knock her out. We'll leave her to Quietus and Anderson."

"Fine." Harry pouted.

The group made their way up to the Council chambers. In this time of war the area was guarded by geth, spectres and C-Sec. No one was taking any chances.

So it was fairly embarrassing when Harry raised a hand and cast a stunner at Dalatrass Escheel.

There were suddenly a lot of guns pointed at the group and Shiala had them surrounded in a barrier.

"Hold your fire!" Quietus shouted.

***BANG***

The blast of weapons fire hit Shiala's barrier and everyone turned to look at the human male who had fired.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly as he lowered his weapon.

Harry just rolled his eyes as Tali pulled a glowering Shiala away from the young man before she eviscerated him.

"Emissary, I trust you have a good reason for attacking the salarian Councillor?" Quietus said sternly.

"Bitch might be indoctrinated. OW!" He rubbed his head and glared at Tali.

"Language." She hissed.

"Might be?" Anderson asked carefully.

"Mordin?" Shepard pulled Harry back slightly to allow the respected doctor to handle this one.

"Have received disturbing news from former colleagues in STG. They have begun hearing 'whispers' in their heads. Some were rescued by Emissary on Virmire. Recognised it for indoctrination and managed to see signs in high-ranking members. Colleagues sent data to me and fled Sur'Kesh."

"How high do you think this has gone?" Quietus almost whispered.

"All the way." Mordin replied gravely.

"This means that the Salarian Union has had access to a Reaper Artefact all this time." Anderson pointed out.

"Agreed." Mordin said quickly. "But my contacts could find no evidence."

A holographic projector between Anderson and Quietus came to life and an image of Aethyta appeared.

"_Sorry I'm late. Had to run a retrieval mission."_ She said in a blasé manner that belied the fact that she was wearing combat armour and holding a _very_ big assault rifle. She was covered in muck and grime. _"So… who finally killed Escheel?"_ She asked as she noticed the slumped form on Anderson's left.

"She's not dead." Anderson responded in a put upon manner. "She's just been stunned by the Emissary. Apparently the entire Salarian Union might have been indoctrinated.

"We were just discussing the possibility of them having a Reaper Artefact and not telling anyone about it."

"_Based on personal experience, I'd say that's a given."_ She said with a pointed look at Harry. The asari were guilty of similar crimes after all.

"I don't think anyone here is willing to discount the theory that they have one." Shepard stepped up. "The question is, what do we do about it. Professor Mordin has already asked for our help on Tuchanka. He believes the Salarian Union has sent an STG team in to subvert the krogan."

"Subvert? In what way?" Quietus asked curiously.

Mordin and Harry shared a slightly nervous look.

Aethyta just sighed. _"Sounds like the cats out of the bag as you humans say. Might as well come clean."_ She advised.

"Fine. The geth and I have neutralised the genophage." Harry admitted. "The krogan can breed as much or as little as they want. "They have managed to nearly double the population and are on track to being taken off the endangered species list."

"Spirits."

"Sweet Mother of God."

"Yeah? Well the asari have had a Prothean Beacon all this time." Harry frantically tried to throw Aethyta to the lions to save himself.

"WHAT?!" Quietus yelled.

"_Really Potter? You want to go down this route?"_ She glared at him.

"Some secrets will get us killed." Harry grinned. "These two could help us win the war."

"_Are you really trying to use logic and wisdom after that little stunt?"_ She asked in disbelief.

"It's true. If the galaxy hears about the krogan population boom it will give the Reapers pause and the rest of us hope.

"Now that the beacon is in the open Thessia can release it so we can study it and see if it holds any useful information."

"_I am going to kick you in the 'nads when I see you next, boy."_ Aethyta glared at him, proving that she had been spending too much time around humans.

"'Nads'?" Quietus said quietly.

"Councillors… we need to focus." Anderson said quickly. It was clear the situation was deteriorating. "I am not going to comment on the new status of the krogan people at the moment but, if the Salarian Union has been compromised then an STG team on Tuchanka is clearly not a good thing."

"We were planning on heading there as soon as this meeting was over." Shepard said.

"Sur'Kesh needs to be contained." Quietus argued. "_That_ should be your priority."

"Respectfully disagree." Mordin piped up. "Krogan are key element to successful defeat of Reapers. Salarian Union have not contributed so far and could easily be ignored."

"Emissary, could you lock down the Mass Relays around Sur'Kesh? Prevent them from leaving their cluster?" Anderson asked.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Is the Council asking me to interfere with one of 'their' Relays?" He asked with a hint of condescension.

"_Just give the fool boy what he needs."_ Aethyta said in exasperation. _"We are in this mess because we refused to listen. Well I am currently standing in a very secure location on a Reaper controlled world. The husks can't even find us and it is all because of the Emissary. Just give him the authorisation to do what he needs to."_

"Anderson? I vote in favour of Councillor Aethyta's motion. How do you vote?" Quietus asked calmly.

"The same." He said quickly and with conviction. "Emissary, for the duration of the war with the Reapers you have the authority and immunity to do what you need to destroy the Reapers and protect the inhabitants of this galaxy."

Quietus quickly added. "This will end when there are no more Reapers in this galaxy. These… privileges, may not be transferred to others but you may employ others to act in your name." He didn't want this coming back to bite the in the butt later.

Harry just shrugged. "I've locked down the Annos Basin Relay."

"Already?" Quietus frowned.

"All Mass Relays sync using QEC. I happen to know the codes to connect to them."

"_In that case, perhaps you should figure out how to limit access to the relays so the Reapers can't move about so easily." _Aethyta prompted.

"I can't do that until I have a geth cruiser at every known Relay." Harry shook his head. "I need to know when to unlock a relay and that means someone has to be there to make the request."

"How soon can you have your ships in place?" Quietus asked.

"Not quick enough. Although… it would be a lot quicker if you lot would get your ships to help out." He said with a superior smile.

Quietus sighed. "I know the humans have… 'special' protection and can safely move their ships away from Earth, but Palaven has no such benefit. So long as there are civilians on the planet we have to try and harass the Reapers and keep them occupied."

"No, you just have to evacuate the rest of your people to the special bunkers that the Blue Suns brought in. Focus your forces on herding the people and then you can leave, just like the Alliance.

"What about you, Councillor?" Harry turned to his favourite nemesis. Harry and Aethyta would never be bored if they had each other to rile up. Neither took it personally and were quite fond of the other. They just enjoyed a good, old fashioned debate.

"_The Asari Republic is looking to secure its own borders and cannot afford to send any resources at this time."_ She said as though quoting. _"It's a load of shit." _She spat. _"Thessia isn't even under attack yet! Some of the colonies are but we aren't suffering like you lot."_

"You know…" Harry mused. "I could lock down their Relays. They would be even safer."

"Other than the moral outrage, I can't think of a good logical argument against that." Quietus chuckled. "But perhaps it should be a last resort?"

"At the moment, Thessia and Rannoch are the last untouched home worlds. The Free People have the largest and most sophisticated military force but the asari are close behind, only the turians are bigger." Harry pointed out.

"The turian military is being decimated. I would say the asari out man and out gun us at the moment." Quietus said. He turned to Aethyta's hologram. "If I were a more cynical man I would think they are planning on this so that we will be weakened and have to rely on them more."

Aethyta just scoffed. _"I think you are crediting my sisters with more intelligence than they deserve. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean you aren't right."_

"My point was that we should do all we can to isolate Thessia because if we don't make enough headway against the Reapers then we will need a fallback point. Thessia will have the biggest military so we could use Rannoch for civilians and Thessia for the military." Harry explained.

The Councillors exchanged a few glances before Aethyta just sighed. _"Kid, I would say do it just to keep my home safe. I'm standing here surrounded by humans who are risking everything they have and a fair amount of what they don't have just trying to stay alive and keep each other alive._

"_I gotta be honest… I don't think my fellow asari would be able to do half as well as these humans are under the same circumstances._

"_Lock them up, Harry. And don't be gentle about it." _ She finished firmly.

"Done." Harry said solemnly. "I've ordered the nearest cruiser to head to Thessia and explain the situation. They will act as guardians of the Relay."

"In that case, your priority should probably be Tuchanka." Anderson nodded. "Sur'Kesh can wait for now."

* * *

><p>"So this is what the Alliance has come to? Using strippers to distract the public from the truth."<p>

"Watch your mouth bitch!"

"Or what? You'll hit me? I doubt it. I hear the Great Subject Zero has been neutered."

"Oh… that's it… you think you can just insult me and my sis? Hell no! Pucker up bitch. Time to kiss my fist!"

"Jennifer! No!"

"Let me at her Di! Even Harry wouldn't hold this against me."

"Ma would!"

"Fine. But this bitch needs spanking… and not in the good way."

"Go ahead Jack. My viewers would eat it up."

"Khalisah, you should leave now. I don't care if you insult me. I hate this job. But insulting my sister is just going to convince me to give you a personal demonstration of _why_ I joined the Alliance."

"To shake your tits in my face?"

There was a loud burst of static noise that screeched out of all the nearby displays in the Wards.

It caused everyone who was watching the encounter between Jennifer, Diana and Khalisah to turn around and see what was going on.

On the screens was a very familiar scene for the Allers girls. The fight between the geth and Cerberus around their home neighbourhood when Cerberus had tried to reclaim Jack.

Of course, the footage was focused on a specific combatant. One Lieutenant Commander Diana Allers, then a mere lieutenant.

She was in combat armour with an assault rifle and she was flowing around the neighbourhood eliminating Cerberus monsters with grace and fluidity.

"Shit Sis… why didn't anyone show me this before?" Jennifer asked, clearly impressed. "Does Ma know you can fight like that?"

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Diana frowned as she tried to spot what was out of place. "Cam? Can you find the source?"

"We are the source." The geth replied. "We contacted Harry for advice on how to deal with Khalisah al-Jilani and he advised discrediting her accusations."

"Harry suggested that?" Jennifer asked sceptically. "Last time he met this bitch he posted a video of her fucking a dude in prison."

Khalisah scowled at the mention of that major embarrassment. She couldn't go near Potter or his team without that video being played on every screen in the vicinity.

Her bosses had threatened to fire her and fine her if she tried as every time she did the screens were switched to their channels and they were the ones hit with the fine for showing indecent imagery in public.

Westerlund News was already banned from the Council Chambers as a result.

"Miss al-Jilani?"

Khalisah spun around to see two C-Sec agents standing there, an asari and a salarian.

"What do you want?" She snapped.

"We have a warrant for your arrest." The salarian stated calmly. "Please come quietly."

"What charges?" She demanded incredulously.

"Harassment, espionage, public disorder…"

"Bullshit!"

"Miss al-Jilani, please control yourself." The asari said warningly. "Further outbursts will only add to your problems."

"You think you can just lock me away and shut me up?" She demanded angrily. "Haven't you heard of the Freedom of the Press?"

The asari sighed as she deftly grabbed Khalisah and cuffed her before she was able to resist. "That is an Alliance policy. On the Citadel we have higher standards." She retorted.

"I'll have your jobs for this!" She screamed as she was dragged away.

"Cam, make a note to find out how many people's jobs she has made threats against." Diana said as she watched the human female get dragged away, kicking and screaming in the literal sense.

It was clear that there would be charges of resisting arrest and assaulting an officer added to her tally.

"We have compiled a list of individuals Khalisah al-Jilani has approached or may have approached." Cam reported.

"Thanks, Cam.

"Is there really no Freedom of the Press on the Citadel?" She asked.

"No, but it isn't needed." A new voice answered.

They turned to see a young Asian female walk up in a long dress. She was smiling broadly and had her own floating camera drone like Khalisah.

"Emily Wong, fellow Alliance News Network reporter." She smiled as she held out her hand.

Diana shook her hand in relief. "So why isn't it needed?"

"Because the laws work in the opposite direction." She explained. "The press doesn't have the right to go digging around but the governments are bound by law to release all information that isn't considered classified."

"And who gets to decide that?" Jennifer asked sarcastically. "You can't trust governments and suits."

"No, and part of the way around that is that reporters can demand to see _any_ piece of information. The downside is that we are placed on a very strict watch after we have seen it. We can call for an independent review of the information to try and have it released, but if we slip up we are screwed." She said seriously. "I've had several cautions because I nearly divulged stuff on accident."

"Still seems restrictive." Diana frowned.

"It really isn't." Emily shook her head. "You don't have to go directly to the Council to make a request. You just have to find a sympathetic ear with the right clearance. They can release the information to you and if you decide you want to release it you call for an independent inquiry.

"You also get exclusive rights to the story." She grinned. "Back when Shepard was made a Spectre, he helped me break my story on Citadel Traffic Control. He planted a few bugs and got me a few files. Within forty-eight hours I had my data. I took it to an inquiry and my story was broadcast twelve hours later."

"Still… that is a long time between finding a story and breaking it."

"If I had done this on Earth on my own and taken it to my editors there would have been a long drawn out process where they had to review my info and make sure they were covered legally.

"It could take weeks and during that time another reporter could have poached it."

"What about current events?" Diana asked.

"If you see it and record it then you should be good to publish it. Occasionally you might get blocked by spectres or C-Sec if the information is classified or part of an ongoing operation. But then you just go through the same process with an inquiry."

"And if you are a beautiful and charming woman like Em, you get fast tracked."

Emily spun around to see a grinning Harry and Lefty standing there with an older model geth platform and a newer model.

"Harry! What are you doing down here in the slums?" She teased.

"Searching for roses… well what do you know, mission accomplished." He said with a grand gesture at the three human females.

"Careful, I don't want Tali coming after me." Emily warned, still smiling even as she blushed.

"She knows _nearly_ everything I do." Harry shrugged.

"Nearly? Nothing fit for broadcasting?" She asked hopefully.

"Not at the moment. Keep an eye on the situation with Thessia though. I just came from a Council meeting and there were some big things happening."

Emily just glared at him. "This is why I asked you to warn me when you are coming to the Citadel."

"Relax, you can easily access the data. I've sent you the files I can."

Emily did visibly relax her annoyed stance. Then she remembered Diana and Jennifer. "Actually, Harry is a good example of someone you can trust to give you the unvarnished truth about what can be published.

"If he says there is something you should drop, then drop it." She said seriously.

"I can live with that." Diana agreed. "Cam says the same thing." She indicated her geth partner.

"It must be nice to have a partner who won't screw you over." Emily sighed.

"Well, this charming fella here is volunteering for the position." Harry said as he indicated the newer model platform.

As it stepped forward they saw it was holding a duplicate of its own head under its arm. It handed it to Cam who, without warning, popped off his own head and replaced it with the new one.

Now he had an actual face instead of the camera.

"Seriously! Do that sort of thing in private!" Harry said in exasperation.

"That was pretty cool." Jennifer grinned.

"Still… what if some kid sees it?" Harry grimaced.

"Pfft, they're gonna see worse when Di and Em start showing images of war." She said dismissively. "What about that time you got hacked to pieces on that Collector Ship. Thought your blue girl was gonna rip the Collectors to pieces by herself."

"Do you have a name?" Diana asked the new geth platform.

"We have not received a designation yet. We welcome suggestions." It said allowing a smile to grace its synthetic face.

"I don't suppose you can stick to walls like stalker platforms?" She asked with doubtful hope.

"This platform is a multi-role platform incorporating abilities from stalker, prime and destroyer platforms. My purpose is to protect Wong Emily as well as assist her in reporting the news."

"Parker!" Diana grinned as she turned to Emily. "Short for Peter Parker."

Emily just snorted a laugh. "It's perfect!"

"Peter Parker. Codenamed: Spider-Man. A fictional character with the abilities of a spider who first earned his money as a news photographer." The platform recited as it performed a quick search. "We find this designation acceptable and poignant. We will now respond to variations of the name 'Peter Parker'."

"Peter is your private name. Give it to friends." Harry said. "Others should refer to you as Parker or Mr. Parker."

"Understood."

"Em, I'll leave you in Pete's capable hands. The rest of us have to get back to the Utah so we can depart. We're needed on Tuchanka."

"We gonna fight some Threshers?" Jennifer asked with a gleam of eagerness.

Emily laid a hand on Diana's arm. "If you need someone to talk to, feel free to call." She said with a grimace as she looked to her colleague's sister.

* * *

><p>The First Fleet quickly headed to Tuchanka. There were fifty Reaper ships in orbit and clear signs of destruction on the planet from orbit.<p>

"Why didn't the krogan call for aid?" Miranda frowned as they stood in the War Room of the Tiger-Lilly.

"Because they are enjoying themselves." Harry chuckled. "Wrex was actually disappointed to hear that I was coming."

"Why?" Jacob asked in disbelief.

"Overlord Wrex is eager to kill a Reaper himself." Mordin laughed. "Has been most vexed that they refuse to land."

"Fine, I can understand the krogan wanting to fight, but what about the females and the children?" Tali demanded.

"Safe in new uncovered bunkers." Harry assured her. "They are remnants from before the nuclear winter."

"What's the plan, Shepard?" Garrus asked turning them to business.

"Harry will be heading to the bunkers to add some more protection. The rest of us are going to have to meet up with Wrex and figure out what the salarian's target is."

"If Salarian Union has discovered krogan are immune to genophage, they may attempt to use the Shroud to modify the genophage and disperse it." Mordin offered.

"That would be good." Harry nodded.

"Why?" Garrus asked with a small smile. He loved the things that Harry came up with. They made life more interesting.

"Because the Shroud was being modified into a planetary defence system against the Reapers and a possible retaliatory attack from the Council races when they discovered the truth about the genophage.

"The STG would get zapped like bugs by the security systems and we wouldn't have to lift a finger.

"It's nearly finished. All it needs is a power source."

"What type?" Tali asked.

"The me type." He said with a regretful smile. "The Shroud has been converted into a giant wand. So it needs a witch or wizard to use it."

"And this weapon is capable of taking on the Reapers?" Miranda asked for clarification.

"We think so. But it is an untested weapon and I need to choose what spells to use carefully."

"What spells were you considering?" Shiala asked.

"That's the problem." Harry sighed in frustration. "Certain spells like the blasting hex will just create a physical effect. The Reapers shields might buckle or break but they will be somewhat effective.

"A stunner might bypass the shields but I don't know if it will actually knock out a Reaper."

"Would it work on a geth?" Kaiden asked.

"Harry has refused to test it on a geth." Lefty informed them. "When used on an active but empty platform the unit suffered critical failures that could have killed the geth programs."

"This would suggest that it will be effective on the Old Machines." The heretic platform offered. He was currently assigned with Lefty as his guide. He would watch organics and synthetics work together to determine what was best for the heretics.

"But not certain." Harry said quickly. "And we don't know how many spells I will be able to cast before it drains me."

"We also don't know if this _is_ what the salarians are after." Shepard said, effectively stopping that line of discussion. "I need to know if there are any other targets they might be trying for."

"I might know of one."

The group turned to see a fairly uncomfortable Primarch Adrien Victus standing there.

"This is gonna be bad… I can feel it." Kasumi sighed.

"After the Krogan Rebellion, things settled down. Especially in light of the fact that they could no longer reproduce at their usual rate.

"But the Turian Hierarchy of the time didn't feel that was enough. They felt that the krogan were still a threat and wanted a fail safe.

"They planted a bomb that would wipe out Tuchanka, to be activated if the krogan stirred themselves up again."

"There is a planet destroying bomb just sitting on Tuchanka?" Jacob asked. "Is it guarded?" He asked, clearly not looking forward to the answer.

"It was hidden. The location is classified, but… it is possible that the salarians discovered it."

"It is good that I am still bound by my Oath to Shepard and that the turians who instituted this are all dead." Samara said gravely. "My code would force me to destroy the Hierarchy."

"Which was one of the reasons that the Hierarchy didn't share this plan with other species." Victus nodded. "They knew they were considering genocide, the genophage was bad enough, but this… the only redeeming aspect is that there was no intent or desire to make the krogan suffer needlessly." He sighed.

"Just the small matter of insulting the krogan honour by stabbing them in the back instead of facing them head on." Ashley said dryly.

"Why aren't you two dinosaurs angry about this?" Jennifer asked Tank and Grunt. Their little team was back together and things were feeling right.

"It was long before our time, Pyjack." Tank explained in his calm manner. "Those turians are long dead. Nearly all of the krogan who fought in the Rebellion are dead too. I won't be blamed for their actions and I won't blame young turians for the actions of their forebears."

"Unfortunately, that sentiment sets you apart from most." Victus admitted. "Most krogan still look at us with vengeance in their eyes. Likewise, many races still see the krogan with suspicion."

"Alright… let's focus on the present." Shepard said. "We have two viable targets. We should get Harry to the Shroud as soon as possible but we also need to neutralise that bomb."

"I have already sent a team to Tuchanka to attempt to secure the bomb. Unfortunately I have lost contact with them." Victus scowled.

"Could they have gone rogue?" Kaiden asked.

"Unlikely. They have reason to be very loyal to me."

"Family." Grunt remarked with a raised brow.

Victus was shocked.

Grunt just chuckled. "I may not blame turians for past crimes, but it pays to understand your allies as well as your enemies. Only your progeny would be considered completely loyal."

"My son." Victus admitted slowly. "He was leading an elite team. The bomb was a huge mistake but if it became public knowledge then it could shatter what is left of the fragile turian-krogan relationship."

"Are there any other targets the salarians might try for?" Shepard asked.

Nobody could think of anything.

"Two teams then. I'll take a team to find the bomb and Ash can take the other team to get Harry to the Shroud. Kaiden, you stay with the fleet and watch our backs."

* * *

><p>Shepard had made Thane's day when he assigned him to his team and Kasumi's to Ashley's. He wouldn't have to suffer through the banter between Kasumi and Harry.<p>

Thane was positive they did it just to get at him.

If he was with them separately then he had no problems and actually enjoyed their company. Put them together and they started at it.

Thane's current role was as the advanced scout for Shepard's team.

Garrus and Milque were acting as over watch and snipers with Jacob and Vega acting as their respective spotters.

Samara and Tank were their powerhouses, Lefty and his heretic partner were their tech members and would be responsible for permanently neutralising the bomb when they found it.

Miranda, Shepard and Liara were the medium range attackers.

The turian ship had managed to crash and communication had been lost.

Their current mission was to find the ship and Victus' son and then proceed to the bomb.

The place was swarming with Reaper forces. Husks, Abominations… there were even Harvesters that had been converted into Reaper slaves. That didn't even begin to take into account the Marauders: Turians converted in to the human equivalent of husks.

Thane ignored them all as he focused on scouting ahead, marking targets and plotting the safest course for his team.

He eventually discovered the turian survivors and marked the location for the team. All of them had the geth nanites and the cerebral implants now. They could all communicate via the organic QEC.

They just sometimes forgot that they could. Thane and Samara were both uncomfortable sharing their heads with another presence as they valued the solitude of their minds when they meditated. Miranda, whilst being uncomfortable at first, quickly found them useful and intriguing.

The others generally only called for the geth as needed.

It didn't take long for the team to come barrelling onto the turian position, driving off the Marauders and Harvesters. Tank had improved his biotic skills having worked with masters like Samara and managed to propel himself onto the back of a Harvester, killing it by chopping through its long neck with his omni-blade.

With the turians now safe and secure things became slightly tense.

Lieutenant Victus was easy to spot.

Not because he resembled his father but because he stood alone in front of his men… and his men glared hatefully at his back.

"Report Lieutenant." Garrus ordered. He was highly respected by the Hierarchy, he had the ear of the Primarch and was instrumental in the keeping him safe.

That was not including the tales of his adventures with Shepard and Potter. Those put him up on the level of the Spirits.

One of the other turians stormed up and grabbed Victus by his armour. "He screwed up!" He said angrily.

"Stand down, soldier." Victus growled.

"These men are dead because of him."

"Hey!" Shepard separated them easily. "I just saved all your asses. So everyone calm down."

The soldier glared murderously at his superior and stormed off.

"Lieutenant, what's going on here?" Shepard asked.

"I made a bad call. This is all on me." Lieutenant Victus said frustratedly. It was clear that he had a lot of honour. He didn't balk at claiming the blame.

"I chose caution and clever tactics over a head-on-attack and… my men paid the price." He was now slipping into the manner of a soldier reporting to a superior. Standing to attention, reporting without emotion. Or as little emotion as possible.

"You mean the crash."

"Yes. We could see on holo that the Reaper forces were blocking our intended path; staying on course guaranteed heavy casualties.

"So I chose a safer route, skirting the enemy, and that took us low and through these ruins. When we encountered resistance we had no room to manoeuvre.

"Suddenly, we were in a fight for our lives. A lot of men lost that fight." He finished with clear regret.

Shepard looked at the young turian carefully. He then looked behind him at the mutinous looking soldiers.

"Any of you disagree with your Lieutenant's report?" He asked.

"He picked the wrong route and our friends died." One of them said angrily.

"And did any of you point out the flaws with his choice when he made it?"

The turians looked away, not having a good answer.

"The Fleet Commander asked you all a question, soldiers." Garrus barked as he strode forward. "On your feet and in formation." He sneered. "You are being addressed by a superior officer, one who was sent on this mission by the Primarch himself."

Years of military training had the turians in a straight line with their weapons shouldered and ready for inspection.

Lieutenant Victus also took his post, standing ready for inspection.

"Better." Garrus said disdainfully. "Now, the Fleet Commander asked you lot a question. Did any of you point out the flaws in the Lieutenant's plans?"

"No Sir." One of he soldiers responded.

Garrus looked to Shepard who just gave him a nod to continue.

"Did any of you _see_ a flaw in his plan?" He demanded.

When no one stepped forward the same soldier spoke up. "No Sir."

"And what did your Lieutenant do when you had crashed and were awake to defend yourselves?"

"The Lieutenant ordered us to start a defensive whilst he scouted nearby for more survivors." The soldier reported.

Garrus stepped up to the soldier. "And did he find any?"

"One living. Three dead."

"Where are they?"

"Behind us, sir."

Garrus stepped back. He had the air of a seasoned commander. "Your Lieutenant made _one_ mistake." He said told them. "He should not have left you to find the survivors. His responsibility is to command and lead you. He should have ordered one of you to scout for survivors.

"Your Lieutenant is a credit to his command and his father, the Primarch." Garrus said with clear approval. "He isn't bitching and whining or blaming others for what happened. He claimed the fault.

"Except there isn't any fault. This is _war,_ people!" Garrus shouted. "You do _not_ get to grumble and decide not to follow your superior officer when an op goes wrong! Your Lieutenant made the best call he could. He purposefully tried to protect you.

"If he had chosen a head on attack you bunch of weak hatchlings probably would complain about that too." Garrus scowled at them. "You should be damned glad you have a commanding officer like Victus, a turian who would risk _his_ life over yours. A turian who will accept the blame for _his_ mistakes instead of claiming _you_ failed to carry out his orders."

Garrus noticed Shepard take a step forward so he stepped out of the way, taking a position a step to the side and behind his own CO.

"Make no mistake." Shepard said with a quiet authority. "If Lieutenant Victus catches heat for this… travesty… he will be offered a place leading a team in my fleet. I'm fighting a war. I don't need people tossing blame around like a live grenade. I need people who will see the problem and tackle it.

"Primarch Victus sent his son on this mission, not because he wanted his son to have an advantage… no, he sent his son because he needed someone who would do the job and not betray the turian people. He knew that this mission was probably a suicide one. I've done enough to recognise them.

"Now, what I need to know from you people, is are you going to be able to follow the Lieutenant back onto the battlefield to complete your mission or should I call down a team from the Free People to serve under him in your place?"

None of them even moved.

"If you want someone to blame for your dead friends then blame the Reapers. If you want you can blame the Hierarchy as they refused to listen to us when we warned them of the Reaper threat."

Shepard turned to Vitctus. "Lieutenant, set your men to preparing to continue their mission, then join us for a tactical briefing."

Victus snapped off a salute that was mimicked by the turians, Shepard returned it and walked off over to the others.

"Victus is weak." Tank said in disapproval. "He should not have caved to his men. But his strategy was sound and he did nothing else wrong."

"He's very young for his rank and posting." Garrus told them. "I haven't seen his file but either he had help along the way or…"

The group paused as they received an information upload from the geth that included the Lieutenant's service record.

"That's a lot of commendations." Vega whistled. His team hadn't been outfitted with nanites due to their status as Alliance soldiers, but they received the data via omni-tool.

"Lieutenant, we have a lot in common." Shepard said as the young turian joined them.

"Sir?"

"We both had to work harder than most to make sure we were recognised for our own merits and not because of our relatives. My mother has done well in the Alliance Navy."

"Sir." He acknowledged neutrally.

"What's the status of your men?" Garrus asked.

"My men will fight and follow orders." He reported. "Unfortunately we are lacking the equipment to get us to the fight."

"We can handle that." Shepard assured him. "Did you manage to run any scans before you crashed?"

"Yes sir… it isn't salarians sir, it's Cerberus."

"Why the hell would those assholes want to blow up the krogan?" Essex asked incredulously.

"Because they know that Harry is a krogan chief and that once the Reapers are finished he'll focus fully on Cerberus." Jacob said with a small smirk. "His clans won't let him have all the fun."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Wrex pulls his weight as Overlord to get involved too." Garrus chuckled.

"Alright people." Shepard said loudly to get them back on track. "The mission stays the same. All that changes is our tactics, Cerberus fights differently to the STG."

"Lieutenant, your thoughts and suggestions?" Garrus asked.

Victus looked fairly nervous as he tried to think. "I know that if it was salarians then we would have to worry about ambushes and stealth attacks. Our tactics would have to involve just finding their fighters. I don't have any experience with Cerberus, only my studies of human tactics in general."

"Humans are very creative." Thane spoke up. "They adapt to the situation as needed. Much like I would as an assassin."

"True." Samara agreed. "But I think our own experience has taught us that Cerberus have no honour. Humans have their evil individuals, much like us and other species, but Cerberus as a whole is evil. They are brutal and merciless."

"They are also a bunch of mother fu-"

"Milque!" Vega barked.

"Racists… that makes them fanatics." Milque finished unrepentantly. He was still sore over Messner. "Cerberus is a fanatical group. They will probably fight to the death and take out as many 'undesirables' as they can doing it."

Shepard began issuing orders. "Thane, I want you and Lefty to infiltrate the Cerberus encampment. Paint targets on anything that you think needs taking out hard and fast. Mechs, heavy weaponry… those sorts of things.

"Sniper teams: I want you to set up position. Priority targets will be the commanders. Put them in disarray. Secondary targets will be what Thane and Lefty mark. Your tertiary targets are whatever you can hit after that.

"Once the sniper teams have taken out their primary and secondary targets the rest of us will focus on covering Lefty as he tries to neutralise the bomb."

"I'd like to help with that, Fleet Commander." Victus spoke up. "For the purpose of this mission I studied the bomb's schematics."

"Alright. You stick with the main force until the snipers are finished.

"Any questions?"

"Contingency plans… sir?" Victus asked.

"Call Harry." Shepard said simply.

* * *

><p>Accessing the Shroud hadn't been an issue for Ashley's team. As an integral part of keeping Tuchanka habitable, the geth and krogan guarded it well.<p>

It had been designed to clean the atmosphere and repair it in the wake of the nuclear winter caused by the krogan's own civil wars.

The team had used a Stingray to land at the top and enter from there. It gave Tali, Harry and Mordin the chance to take a quick look at the emitters.

Once they were happy with it they headed inside and Harry began powering up.

Then the fun began.

"Die you bastards! Attack my friends? I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

"You are a bad, bad, _bad_ influence on that girl." Ashley sighed as she stood next to control chamber where a pouting Harry sat.

Harry had tested the thing and taken out an entire Reaper ship with a stunner. The ship had shut down and been pulled into orbit as it was pelted by geth ships along with Kaiden and the First Fleet.

It did not survive re-entry.

Then Harry had offered Tali the chance to take a shot from a nearby auxiliary controller.

This led to the young quarian showing a previously unseen bloodthirsty side as she took great pleasure in eradicating the Reapers.

"Come on Tali!" Kasumi whined. "Let the rest of us have a go."

"This is not my fault." Harry grumbled to Ash. He was stuck in the chamber until Tali was finished or his power levels began to run low. The Shroud was an immense amplifier that took Harry's magic, magnified it with Eezo and then directed it using lenses on the top of the tower.

All Harry had to do was aim the lens and then cast his desired spell into a small aperture in the chamber.

He should never have given Tali control of the targeting system.

"Fire!"

Harry sighed at his fiancée's manic cry and sent another stunner into the hole.

"Direct hit!"

"That's enough, Tali." Shiala smiled as she pulled her whining friend out of the chair. "Let other's have a go."

Kasumi was in like a shot as she grinned evilly.

"Alright Tali, now you are going to learn about two very important words: Collateral Damage." She declared.

She began aiming and calling for Harry to cast.

"Does collateral damage mean missing all the time?" Tali asked. "Those Reapers are heading straight for us." She warned as three of the Reapers Kasumi was aiming for began barrelling down on their position from orbit.

"Wait for it… wait for it… FIRE!"

Harry just sighed in boredom as he fired again.

"DIRECT HIT!" She bellowed from her chair.

"What about the other two?" Tali asked.

"Fire! Fire!"

Two more shots and the other two ships began to drift with out control.

"Nice work Kasumi." Tali glared. "Now we have three dead Reaper ships heading right for us. They will hit the tower."

Kasumi just sat back and watched with satisfied smirk.

"Oh." Tali said, she was impressed.

The first Reaper Kasumi had hit had ploughed into the second which ploughed into the third causing the whole thing to become a fiery mass of contorted metal.

"And now for the piéce de résistance… Harry, fire a spell to transfigure them into compost!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"DO IT!" She ordered like a drill instructor.

Harry just grumbled and tried to figure how to work that particular spell. "Firing."

"Geisha Girl… did you just make it so we are about to get covered in shit?" Jennifer demanded as she stormed up and looked at the mass approaching them on the holo display.

"A little faith, please." Kasumi said disdainfully. Harry, one last spell and I need you to hold it… we know you have the stamina." She winked at him causing Harry and Tali to blush. "I need a shield spell, on my mark."

Kasumi waited till the last possible moment.

"If this doesn't work I will make you clean all of us." Shiala glared at her younger lover.

"FIRE!" Kasumi cried with joy.

It was… disgusting.

The domed shield flared into existence and the… 'compost' splattered against it and around it obscuring the view from the windows.

The smell wasn't all that good either.

It took five minutes for the last of the 'compost' to hit.

"I feel so dirty." Harry shuddered as he dropped his shield. There was a long sounding splat as the shield vanished and the compost dropped to the floor.

"What was the point of that?" Ashley asked tiredly.

Kasumi stood up from the chair now that the last of the Reapers was gone. "We have just provided the krogan people with the means to create fertile lands for planting crops." She said smugly.

"Krogan are carnivores. They don't eat vegetables." Harry stated calmly.

Kasumi's smile dropped. "A new line of defence for The Shroud?" She offered hopefully.

"You can explain this one to Shepard and Wrex." Harry decided.

* * *

><p>"Shepard-"<p>

"I saw it, Garrus."

"The smell!"

"I smelt it, Garrus."

"I need a bath."

"Been saying that for years, Garrus."

"Hey!"

"Perhaps you could focus on the Cerberus agents attempting to blow up Tuchanka?" Shepard couldn't help but smirk at his turian friend. Harry and Garrus were very much his best friends. The three were like brothers… which made things awkward for Shepard as both of his friends considered Ashley a sister.

They enjoyed the threats.

"I'm more worried about that drop ship." Garrus said as he looked through his scope. "It's carrying an Atlas."

"What?" Shepard asked as he quickly peeked over their cover. "Can you take out the pilot whilst it is in the air? Its shields should be offline until it lands."

_***BANG**__*_

_***BANG**__*_

_***BANG**__*_

_***BANG**__*_

_***BANG**__*_

"He's dead."

"Impressive." Shepard admitted as Garrus reloaded his weapon. The first four shots destroyed the armoured transparent screen around the cockpit, the last destroyed the pilot.

"What can I say? It's a gift." He said with a calmness that showed he was being _really_ smug.

"Alright, watch my back and I'll try and get in and commandeer it."

"Whoa there!" Garrus said as he quickly pulled him back. "That thing needs a driver, not a pilot. Most of us know we will probably die on the battle field but we would prefer not to go down under the feet of a friendly mech."

"What do you want to do? Just leave it there and pick off Cerberus agents that try to board it?" Shepard demanded.

"You know, they are probably dumb enough to try." Garrus chuckled. "Vega! See the Atlas?"

"Sure." The burly marine nodded as he ducked back under cover.

"We'll cover you. Make a run for it and turn the tide."

"You guys are loco." Vega sighed as he prepped himself for the death run.

* * *

><p>Ashley's team had quickly exited The Shroud after the last of the Reapers was dealt with.<p>

The smell was nearly unbearable.

Harry had cast bubble-head charms on everyone… he wanted to make Kasumi suffer without one but Tali had convinced him to do it… just so they wouldn't have to listen to her moan.

They quickly met up with Shepard's team and used the Stingray to board the Utah.

"Alright… meeting is postponed until you lot have bathed." Shepard decided as he tried not to gag.

"Kasumi, grab a brush." Shiala ordered. "You have several backs to scrub."

"Jennifer, come with us. We'll use the baths on the Utah instead of desecrating the Tiger-Lilly." Tali offered as she glared at Kasumi.

"You make one bad call…" Kasumi grumbled.

* * *

><p>"Runt, I might have to question your loyalty to your Overlord if you keep killing Reapers and not letting me prove myself." Wrex glared at Harry as they were gathered on the Tiger-Lilly.<p>

Tali had literally sniffed the entire team to make sure they wouldn't stink up hers and Shiala's beloved ship.

Mordin had nearly taken offence… but the glare from Shiala had made him keep quiet.

"Wrex, if we get a chance I promise to apparate you onto the next available Reaper." Harry promised.

"I'll remind you of that the next time we see one." Wrex said.

"Overlord Wrex, have you given any consideration to sending aid to Palaven?" Victus asked urgently.

"I've thought about it." Wrex nodded. "I even talked to this lot." He gestured to his friends. "I'm not trying to get payback on a thousand year old grudge, but… I don't see the point in sending my people to fight Reapers on Palaven when the turians are safe and sound.

"Hell! I'll be sending the krogan armies to the Emissary's fleets once they've locked down our relays."

"But Palaven is being burned!" Victus begged.

"But the turians aren't." Wrex countered. "They are safe. If I send my krogan in now, many will be killed. The Emissary will need those krogan to confront the Reapers once and for all."

"So centuries of culture are to be sacrificed." Victus said forlornly.

"So that future centuries of culture can be cultivated." Samara chided sternly. "Overlord Wrex is right to hold back his armies. Losing them now could cost us the entire war."

"Yeah… why don't you ask him what that's like?" Kasumi smirked as she jabbed a thumb at the prothean standing nearby.

"Mind your tongue ape. I would cut it out and eat it for your insolence."

"Hey, Javik?" Harry said calmly. "Make another threat like that again… and I'll start cutting off _your_ body parts. I'll see to it that the last prothean leaves this galaxy a piece at a time."

Javik growled… but he knew he was outmatched by the small ape.

"Sir, we're getting an distress call from Grisom Academy." Traynor spoke up suddenly.

"The biotic academy?" Ash asked.

"Yes Ma'am. They say they are being attacked by Cerberus."

"When I find Harper, I am going to end his life in the most painful way I can think of." Harry growled.

"Shepard to Joker. Set a course for Grisom Academy. Top speed."

"_Aye aye Commander."_

"Jen, see if your sister wants in on this op. Tell her to bring Cam so they can get some battlefield footage."

"You want me to bring my little sister into a war zone?" Jennifer growled at Harry.

"Do you not remember the footage from when she fought Cerberus?" Harry countered. "Besides, this would be a good way to show the truth about Cerberus."

"Oh… right. She's a hard core bitch under those tits." Jennifer muttered as she remembered the footage.


	40. Chapter 40

The ground team was on the Stingray, barrelling towards the space station that housed the Academy. The rest of the fleet had broken up and was harassing the Cerberus fleet that had been sent to the attack.

"Sir, this ain't really the place for a reporter." Vega commented to Ashley as he eyed the armoured and armed Diana Allers. "Cerberus don't exactly fight nice."

"Is this because I'm a woman?" Diana glared at Vega.

"Yes." Essex piped up unashamedly.

"Excuse me?" Ashley asked the biotic specialist.

"Erm…" Essex suddenly realised his mistake. "I mean… she's not a fighter. She's a reporter."

"Here, stick this in your mouth and suck on it." Milque sighed as he handed his teammate a fairly large sniper round. "It's probably safer for you."

"Lieutenant Allers can handle herself just fine, Vega. That said-" She turned to the lieutenant. "-Your mission is to stick with Shepard. Watch his ass. You'll get the best footage with him anyway."

"If you get your ass injured… don't expect _me _to tell Ma." Jennifer rounded on her sister.

"I'll be fine, Jenny. This isn't my first rodeo."

"Just make sure it isn't your last." Shepard said as he walked up. "Everybody get to position. We are about to dock."

"Eva, she's all yours." Harry told EDI's younger sister. "Have fun."

"Thank you Harry." She said as she slipped into the newly vacated pilot's seat. "Please keep EDI safe."

"Don't worry. She's got plenty of backup." He assured her.

EDI had been eager to get some time on the battlefield in her new body. It was full equipped with all the geth features such as a cloak and the ability to stick to walls.

* * *

><p>The first room they came across was the security centre where the Headmistress of the academy, First Lieutenant Kahlee Sanders, had managed to hole up and send out the distress signal.<p>

"Hey! Assholes!" Jennifer growled at the three Cerberus agents trying to break in to get at the Headmistress. "Back off!"

The agents were suddenly little more than stains on the wall.

"Kaiden, check on Sanders." Shepard ordered. "Jen, next time keep at least _one_ alive so we can interrogate them." He sighed.

"The only good enemy is a dead enemy." She quoted her krogan friends.

Tank and Grunt just grinned. "Truer words never spoken." Grunt said proudly. "But all the same, the more you know about your enemy, the more you can kill."

It was at that point that Shepard realised he should leave Jennifer's training in the hands of the young krogan. The look of understanding and disappointment on her face when she realised the opportunity she had just screwed showed that if anybody understood her… it was a pair of bloodthirsty krogan.

And maybe Zaeed.

"Lieutenant, this is the Emissary, Fleet Commander Shepard and Captain Williams." Kaiden introduced the Academy Headmistress as they approached.

"Lieutenant Sanders. Love the work you do here." Harry smiled widely as he stepped up and vigorously shook her hand.

Sanders was an attractive blonde in her early forties… and completely shocked by the Emissary. "You know about the Academy?"

"Of course I do." Harry said. "After all the crap I heard Captain Alenko here went through when he was a student, I wanted to make sure that things were better for other biotics."

"Oh… well… thank you." She said slightly embarrassed. She knew the man had a penchant for toppling governments and wouldn't stand for abuse of others, so when she was complimented by the Emissary… it meant a _lot._

"Now then, let's go find your students and kill some terrorists on the way." He said as he pulled his sword and headed off.

They didn't get through two doors before they discovered a student trying to defend himself with a barrier whilst a geth platform was battling two very lithe, sword wielding Cerberus agents.

"What the hell?" Harry demanded as he saw these strange new agents. "Hey! Arseholes!" Harry shouted angrily.

Having got their attention, Harry charged them and discovered something very disconcerting.

He had no idea how to fight with a sword.

In the space of five seconds his sword was sliced in two and his sword hand was flying through the air.

"Ow." He said calmly as he looked at the two swordsmen that looked like they were wearing motorcycle helmets. "You broke my sword." He said accusingly. "That is _not_ on."

Both of them moved to attack but Harry just raised his left hand hit them with a _Bombarda Maxima_. Barriers and armour might protect against biotics… but they were ineffective against magic. The problem was that Harry's magic was nowhere near as powerful as his biotics unless he was fairly close.

For now, the Grissom Academy had a new paint job.

Harry looked down as he felt someone grab his stump. He saw Lefty putting a closed metal cuff on the end, sealing it from contamination. Shiala was picking up his severed hand which was still holding the hilt of the Sword of Gryffindor whilst Ash was gingerly trying to figure out how to pick up the severed blade without melting her fingers.

Kaiden and Sanders were dealing with the student who was nearly passed out with exhaustion.

"Harry… just… god, I give up." Shepard sighed.

"That was so gross." Diana said with a grimace.

"It's just my hand." Harry waved his stump at her. "The Doc will have it reattached as soon as we get back."

"No… that." She indicated the dripping remains of the Cerberus Swordsman.

"That was the very first thing Harry did when I met him." Tali mused. "Of course the blood was a different colour."

"I had to burn that armour." Garrus said in remembrance.

"Are you fit to continue, Harry?" Shepard asked. Seeing his friend dismembered was becoming less and less traumatic. But he was definitely going to drag him to Sha'ira the next time they were on the Citadel; Harry was far too blasé about it.

Harry looked at the metal cuff on his wrist and grinned at Shepard. "This fight just became so much easier."

"Oof."

The group turned with weapons ready to see a geth platform standing behind them with a panting female student in her Academy uniform being supported by it from behind.

"Seanne!" The male student cried as he managed to break free from where Sanders and Kaiden were tending to his exhaustion.

"Reiley!" She returned as she leapt into his embrace.

"They're siblings." Sanders explained. "But where are all the geth coming from?"

"Like I said Headmistress, I like what you do here." Harry reiterated. "The geth agreed to help keep an eye on you to keep you safe. We had a feeling that you might be targeted, we just thought it would be the Reapers and not Cerberus."

On the other side of a glass wall another platform dropped to the ground with a student and nodded to the group.

"How many geth are there?"

"Only about ten. Their priority is the safety of the students, which is why they are hiding with them and not actively fighting."

"We can hold our own." Reiley argued as he comforted his sister.

"Yep." Harry nodded. "Doesn't mean you should have to though."

"We should hurry." Sanders said. "There are a lot of Cerberus agents and more students than your geth can hide."

"_Attention all students, Cerberus Troops have taken control of this station."_

The group scowled as they heard the somewhat condescending male voice over the PA system.

"_We have no desire to hurt you. Surrender and you will not be harmed._

"_Resist and we cannot ensure your safety._

"_The Alliance has failed you. Earth has fallen._

"_Fighting now only dishonours your family… your friends."_

"Chief, let us go and find this fool and end him." Tank growled. This Cerberus goon had actually managed to rile up the usually placid krogan.

"We stick together Tank. But when we find him… he's all yours." Harry promised.

"I can't believe my students have to hear this." Kahlee said mournfully as she stood with her arms around Seanne and Reiley.

"They don't." Harry said as he walked up to a nearby audio outlet and stared at it.

"This is the Emissary." He spoke clearly. The nearby monitors sprang to life and Harry's face appeared as his voice could be heard through the speakers.

"The Alliance is alive and well, as is your Headmistress who is here with me now." The screens cut to an image of the group as they stood now. "As you can see, Spectre Shepard and his team have come to spank these naughty little dogs."

Shepard _tried _not to groan.

It was difficult seeing as the two kids and most of the team where grinning.

"As for Earth… it took a hard hit. The Reapers are there now but the people are safe.

"When it comes to fighting… don't feel you have to fight these bastards… leave that to me. I do so enjoy killing fools." Harry's beaming face said blissfully.

"I'll let these images continue to show our progress for you.

"See ya soon!" He said as he gave a jaunty salute and turned back to the group.

"So… Kasumi and Thane, shall we go scouting?"

"And assassinating." Thane said darkly. As a father himself, he took the safety of children personally.

As one the three disappeared from sight. The only sign of their passing was the door opening and closing, seemingly on its own.

"Fu- Err… Damn." Jennifer quickly corrected herself as her sister glared at her. "There won't be anything left for us to kill."

"Station security recorded over a hundred Cerberus personnel." The platform that had been defending Reiley reported. "The Emissary will not be able to handle them all alone."

"Doesn't mean he won't try." Ash patted the platform's shoulder as she walked past him.

* * *

><p>They quickly moved through the station passing dead Cerberus bodies as they went. Judging by the messy state of these bodies… Harry was not being gentle.<p>

They eventually came across a large room with stairs leading to a control room. The majority of the students were hiding behind biotic barriers whilst Cerberus pounded them.

Harry, Thane and Kasumi were busy trying to deal with two Atlas mechs.

"Shepard! Take out the foot soldiers!" Harry ordered from behind his own barrier.

Shepard didn't get a chance to dish out orders as two huge krogan and their petite human friend charged the Cerberus dogs.

"Samara, Miranda and Kaiden. Try and get to the students. Bolster their barriers. Everyone else back up Jack, Tank and Grunt." He instructed.

"_Bombarda Maxima!_"

***BOOOM***

Everything stopped.

The only sound heard was of flickering fire and falling fragments of metal.

Harry Potter was standing in front of two smoking legs of what was once an Atlas mech. His stump was aimed at where the body used to be and the wall behind the mech had a new doorway.

"Madre de Dios."

"Holy shit."

"Why can't I do cool stuff like that?" Came the whining voice of Vega's sniper, Milque.

Harry calmly turned around and blew across the top of his stump. "So… who's next?" He asked with a humourless smile.

Instantly six of the agents dropped their weapons and raised their hands whilst the pilot of the surviving Atlas quickly shut his mech down and opened the cockpit.

"Kill the rest." Harry ordered the three friends of Tank, Grunt and Jack.

The agents who had dropped their weapons instantly dived out of the way as the entire team charged the insane Cerberus agents who thought that they could survive whatever it was Harry had done.

Harry threw out a few binding hexes at the agents who had surrendered and followed it up with stunners.

"Harry… what is that thing on your arm?" Garrus asked curiously. He was more amused by the glares being sent his way by the soldiers in the group. How many times had they told him not to take untested weaponry into battle.

"Remember The Shroud? This is a miniaturised version." Harry said, peering down the end.

Garrus calmly reached out and pulled the deadly end of Harry's new weapon away from the wizard's own face. "Maybe you should avoid using a weapon capable of creating holes in walls on a space station?" He suggested.

Harry just glared at him. "I do have a super-computer in my head with very precise targeting systems. I know when I can use it."

"David!"

The group turned to see Seanne break from the group and run into the arms of another student.

Harry smiled broadly and walked over to where the young man stood somewhat awkwardly as Seanne checked him for injury.

"Hello little brother." Harry greeted with a smile.

"Hello brother." The young man said with a hint of a smile. "It has been-"

"Too long since we saw each other." Harry said as he stepped forward and hugged him. "Still happy?" He asked as he stepped back.

David looked a little unsure as he considered it. "I do not like the fighting." He admitted, but he seemed in no way traumatised.

"David? As in… David Archer?" Ashley asked with wide eyes as she stepped up.

"Hello, Captain Williams." David nodded. "Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thanks… wait… I thought you were on Rannoch?" Ashley shook her head in confusion.

"He was. But I really do like what Lieutenant Sanders does here so I talked to David and we enrolled him here."

"But your name wasn't on the files." Kahlee frowned. "It was a family by the name of Handle."

"Handle?" Miranda spoke up in surprise.

"Your sister and her parents have big hearts. They housed David at first. Then they took official custody. David and I often talk via QEC and we discussed the fact that there aren't many schools available for him… so…"

"So I had my parents sign us both up for the Academy." Came a familiar smirking voice.

"Ori?" Miranda exclaimed as the brunette beauty stepped up from the back of the group of students. "You are supposed to be safe on Rannoch!" She said angrily.

"Our little brother needed someone to come with him." Oriana scowled at her sister. "He isn't a biotic and I wanted him to have a familiar face, someone who could understand him."

"Brother?"

"Adopted."

"But… that would make Potter…" Miranda looked fairly green as she looked at the cheekily waving Harry Potter. "Oh… I think I might be ill."

"Love you too, Sis." Harry smirked.

"As interesting as this reunion is… and funny to see Miranda so disturbed… maybe we should focus on getting off this station?" Jacob reminded them.

"Right, Harry, Thane, Kasumi, continue your scouting. Kaiden, take Vega and his team and watch the rear. Grunt, you and your team keep point.

"You students stay in the middle. If we get in a fire fight huddle together and take turns throwing up barriers." Shepard ordered.

"We can fight!" One student argued.

"You are _not_ soldiers. You don't know the first thing about how we work. If you try and fight then you are more likely to get shot down by friendly fire than by the enemy… and I won't put my people in that position." Shepard said firmly.

"Follow orders or I will knock you out, transfigure you into marbles and carry you out in my pockets." Harry warned. As an example he proceeded to do what he said to the agents who had surrendered.

"Wait!" Everyone turned to Shepard… who turned to Sanders. "Lieutenant, is everyone on the station who _should_ be on the station, here? All students? What about your support staff?"

"They were killed as soon as Cerberus arrived." She said sadly. "They gave their lives to give myself and the students time to escape… much like the geth have clearly done." She indicated scorch marks and dents on the platform that had defended Reiley.

"Harry, can you blow the airlocks and vent the atmosphere from here?" Shepard asked.

"I can… but we don't have suits for everyone."

"And not all of us are capable of orbital drops… but we all made it Virmire." He said with a hint of amusement.

A slow grin spread across Harry's face.

* * *

><p>"Has that boy learnt nothing?!" Wrex demanded in frustration as he observed the station from the holo display on board the Tiger-Lilly.<p>

"I don't understand… this is the Emissary's doing?" Primarch Victus asked as he observed Cerberus agents flying out of airlocks.

Grunt gave a huff of disgust. "The Runt has a habit of venting his enemies into space. It's… un-krogan."

"And he _is_ a krogan chief… sir!" Traynor tacked on quickly as she remembered who she was talking to.

"There will always be the few amongst your own people who will defy tradition and custom." Victus told Wrex calmly. "Take Vakarian. He is a _terrible_ turian by our standards. He can't work with a structured military outfit. He balks at the offer of authority and promotion.

"Your two krogan on Shepard's team are examples of krogan who are showing signs of moving away from traditional krogan methods.

"But they are also the best the krogan have to offer. Just as Vakarian is the best we have to offer.

"They will forever grate on your nerves, Overlord Wrex, but at the end of the day, they are the ones who ensure our people survive."

Wrex gave another huff before he turned an appraising eye on Traynor. "What about you? What do you think about Harry's… _methods?"_

Samantha looked up between the two men with wide eyes… talk about being put on the spot!

"They- They… " She paused as a memory of Eva telling her that Cerberus had wanted her flitted before her eyes. She looked at Wrex steadily. "They should feel lucky he decided to bother killing them."

Wrex gave an approving smile at the woman as Victus chuckled. "Still, always remember to stomp out the pest infestation." Wrex instructed. "It helps keep your food supplies safe." Wrex turned and walked off to his assigned cabin.

Samantha let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"You actually managed to impress him." Victus assured her. "Not an easy thing to do when it comes to a krogan."

Samantha just blushed, but there was a hint of darkness in her expression. "I've seen the reports of what Cerberus does. I've seen what they do to their own people. For me it is even more personal… Eva says they wanted to get me."

"You don't seem the combat type." Victus said curiously. "When would you have seen their own people? Shepard has shared all intel."

"On the Dog Star, sir." She shuddered. "The geth have set it up as a lab and Mordin and the geth are working on the Cerberus bodies from Mars. It's… you should see for yourself."

"Perhaps I will." He frowned.

* * *

><p>With Cerberus booted off the station (literally), the team had headed back to the Stingray. Vega had made the suggestion that they take the three Atlases they found with them as the one he had used on Tuchanka was very effective.<p>

"Good idea, we'll give them to the Alliance or the turians." Harry nodded.

"I was thinking we could use them." Vega explained.

"Again, a good idea, but the geth are currently throwing together plans for custom models."

Lefty stepped forward and ejected three injectors from his chest cavity. "Hackett Admiral has given permission for you to accept our nanites." He informed Vega's team. "The QEC will be require a month to construct. In the meantime the nanites will ensure your health."

"About time." Grunt rumbled. "I spoke to Hackett months ago. Told him he needed to give his people the nanites if they wanted to survive."

"He was against it?" Jacob asked.

Grunt chuckled. "He was pissed. Said I had given him the 'Elixir of Life' but that he wouldn't be able to use because of his superiors."

"He should be online soon." Harry said. "He took the nanites a few days ago. Anderson too."

"Maybe you should let the students and Sanders out." Kaiden reminded Harry.

"Maybe later." Harry grinned. "I want this station moved to Rannoch first."

"We don't have the authority to make that call, Harry." Shepard shook his head.

"First of all, you are a Spectre. You can do what you want. Secondly, the Council gave me the authority to do _whatever_ I needed to ensure the safety of the galaxy and its inhabitants.

"The call is mine to make." Harry stated firmly.

"Tactically speaking, it is a sound move, Shepard." Garrus agreed. "The Alliance certainly doesn't have the ships to defend this place and you can bet none of the other races will have ships to spare."

"Alright… it's your call Emissary." Shepard said respectfully. "How do you plan to do this?"

"We are headed back to the Citadel. We'll take the students with us, they can get a taste of what a warship feels like. The geth will take the students to Rannoch whilst another ship comes to move the station."

* * *

><p>The trip to the Citadel was a real eye-opener for the students.<p>

Quite a few managed lose their breakfast, lunch and dinner after Harry and Shepard insisted they watch recordings of their battles.

This meant that they got detailed views of Harry being dismembered.

Then he had them watch whilst Karin and the geth reattached his hand. That included removing the severed bones from his forearm and his severed hand and then watching as they were replaced.

"Could you make a biotic amplifier similar to your gauntlet?" Oriana had asked during the process.

The 'gauntlet' was the term she used for the cuff Lefty had placed over his stump that let him blow the body off an Atlas. Apparently that one was literally for the times when Harry lost an appendage. Having passed the field test the geth on the Dog Star were fabricating a set of proper gauntlets that would replace the ones on his current armour.

"We are working on it." Harry nodded. "But it isn't the same as magic. We are having trouble trying to find something that will amplify the power of the biotic as opposed to the effect."

"What do you mean?" Seanne asked curiously. She was quite literally attached to David's side. David had come a long way in his social development thanks to Harry and the geth. They were able to create a safe environment in his head and that, combined with the speed the human mind works at, meant he improved rapidly.

"If I were to give you a gauntlet that amplifies the effect of biotic throw then when you cast you will probably be thrown backwards from the recoil. The effect would occur as soon as the power left the gauntlet.

"What we need to do is amplify the biotic energy so that its effect is amplified on contact or detonation." Harry explained.

"What about biotic shockwaves?" Oriana asked.

"Would you really want to be at the centre of an amplified shockwave?" Harry scoffed. "You'd be squished into a tiny little pool of flesh and bone."


	41. Chapter 41

Once they docked at the Citadel the kids were quickly transferred to a geth cruiser and shipped off to Rannoch. The trip wouldn't take long as the relays were firmly under Harry's control and he didn't need to do much more than let the geth in his head do the work.

The team went their separate ways to run their own errands or errands requested by others.

Harry headed for the Council chambers with Shepard, Javik, Wrex and Victus.

"I hear Tuchanka is the first planet to actually drive off the Reapers." Quietus said approvingly. "It is good to have some positive news for once."

"I assume that the Free People are developing similar weapons for other planets, like Palaven and Earth?" Anderson asked hopefully.

"Something like that." Harry nodded. "You have to remember that there are lots of planets that need defending and only one person who can use these weapons."

"_You have control of the Relays. You can easily get to any planet you need to."_ The holographic projection of Aethyta said dismissively.

"True. We are working on it… just remember we have to reverse engineer The Shroud on Tuchanka first as the salarians aren't exactly feeling cooperative at the moment."

"Maybe we should go and change their minds?" Wrex growled.

"I'd prefer we didn't start picking fights when we don't need to." Victus countered. "Whilst their files would be useful, I have faith that the geth can manage this without them."

Wrex just shrugged and backed down. "It's your planets that are being attacked."

"What about sending a small infiltration team?" Anderson asked. "I would imagine someone like yourself or Kasumi Goto could slip onto Sur'kesh without too much trouble." He looked to Harry.

"Sure, but we wouldn't know what to look for or where."

"You could take Mordin. If anyone knows it's him." Shepard said.

"I can't do it myself." Harry shook his head. "I need to be able to deal with any issues that arise. We'll ask Mordin and Kasumi if they are game."

"Do you have any immediate plans?" Quietus asked.

"Yes. Dr. T'Soni says she might have managed to track down the last known location of the Leviathans. Shepard and I will be going to see if we can't arrange a meeting."

The rest of the meetings participants shared looks of trepidation.

"Are you certain we won't be trading one enemy for another?" Quietus asked. "The information you provided us states that the Leviathans created the Reapers. There was also evidence that indicated the Leviathans might have posed as gods and enslaved the people of their time."

"_Fortunately that isn't anything you will have to worry about."_

The holographic display that had once shown Saren flickered to life to show Jack Harper, The Illusive Man.

"Oh god… why won't you just die?" Harry groaned.

"Security!" Anderson barked.

"_It's no use David."_ Harper smirked. _"As we speak my people are swarming through the Citadel. C-Sec is already ours. The Alliance docks and the embassies are ours too._

"_Surrender peacefully and I'll let you waste away your days in a cell."_

"Harry-"

"Way ahead of you, John." Harry growled. "Wrex, you up for a fight?"

"I've been getting a bit restless sitting on that throne." The Overlord glared as he pulled his shotgun.

"_I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you."_ Harper said calmly. _"It's not like I didn't take precautions against your interference, Potter."_ As he spoke his own image shrank to allow a video feed of something that made everyone's blood boil.

Tali and Shiala were shackled and unconscious and lying on the floor at the tips of two very sharp looking swords.

"_If you fail to follow my instructions my Phantoms will torture and kill your precious alien bitches."_ He said with a very evil smile. _"Now then, Harry. If you want them to live, kill everyone in that room that isn't human."_

"Wrex, check your weapon and follow me. We've got things to kill." Harry said, his voice thick with emotion as he raised his hand and blasted the emitter killing the image.

"On your tail, Runt." Wrex growled.

"I hope you'll allow me to accompany you." Victus said tightly. "I have a very un-turian like urge to gut something."

"_Give 'em hell kid."_ Aethyta said quietly.

"We'll stay and try and coordinate support for you." Anderson said as he began tapping away at his console.

"Avina, time to show your true colours." Harry called out.

"_Gladly."_ Came the voice of the asari based VI.

"Let me guess, you and the geth turned her into an AI?" Victus said with a dark smile as he accepted an assault rifle from one of the Spectres on duty in the room.

"_My Keepers have started to clear a direct path."_ Avina informed them. _"I have also begun to close the Citadel arms. You will not be able to receive reinforcements but neither will Cerberus."_

"Never planned on leaving." Wrex commented as he headed for the door.

* * *

><p>Despite leaving with Shepard, Wrex and Victus; Harry vanished from their group the second they entered the elevator.<p>

The three older warriors had to rely on Avina to guide them.

Harry had begun to apparate through the Citadel.

To the horror of Karin Chakwas he appeared in her medical bay, chopped off his own right arm with his omni-blade and then attached the cuff she had been holding for him.

He then vanished… all without saying a word.

Harry knew exactly where Tali and Shiala were being held. Cerberus had done something to interfere with their nanites and biotics but their QEC was a pure organic instrument.

As Harry moved through the Wards the geth were in his head trying to bolster every aspect of his being. By the time Harry reached the embassies of the Free People he was several times stronger than usual and much quicker.

The downside was that his body would suffer greatly for it.

Harry calmly opened the doors to his apartment where he found the scene he had witnessed earlier in the Council Chambers. Tali and Shiala were unconscious in front of a blank screen that disguised the background so it wasn't clear where they were being held.

There were four of these so-called 'Phantoms' in the room.

"No mercy." Harry said darkly as he raised his stump.

The two closest Phantoms guarding Tali and Shiala rolled out of his line of fire.

That was exactly what Harry wanted as he silently transfigured his lovers into diamonds that he summoned to his left hand.

The hostages were clear.

Now the carnage could begin.

* * *

><p>Harry was sat on the sofa and taking a moment to centre himself as blood dripped down the walls of his apartment.<p>

"Are the girls safe?"

Harry looked up to see Shepard standing there with a team of marines behind him.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. "I've seen many sick things in my short life." Harry said as he stood up and picked up one of the micro-molecular blades that the Phantoms had dropped. "I've seen people rounded up and placed in concentration camps. I've seen people tortured just to entertain others. I've seen people used as guinea pigs against their will.

"A lot of the horrible stuff has been done in the past few years… most of it by Cerberus.

"They mutilated their own people.

"They kidnapped and hurt my girls.

"But most unbelievably…" ***schlick*** "They cloned my best friend and thought I wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Shepard looked down with wide eyes at the sword sticking deep into his gut.

Harry just sneered at him. "Shepard and I are always connected. We are family."

Harry raised his stump and swung it in a wide horizontal arc over the clone's head, the slicing charm was powerful enough to remove the heads of the 'marines'.

"The Illusive Man underestimated you."

Harry stepped out into the corridor and turned to the sound of the voice. Standing at the entrance that led to the courtyard area was an Asian man in black armour. He was carrying a Japanese sword.

"Kai Leng." Harry said darkly.

"I told him you wouldn't be deterred by the threats against your alien whores." Leng scoffed. "Especially as he needed the purple one to leverage your 'Free People'." He said mockingly.

"Back of the neck. There is a hard line socket for emergencies." Harry said in that same calm, dark manner.

Leng tilted his head slightly. "You'll have to reach it fir- hggghhkk!"

Leng collapsed to the ground unable to move his limbs. His eyes were wide in shock and fear.

Above him, two figures materialised.

Kasumi Goto and Lefty.

Both looked murderous.

"We have learnt many new emotions today." Lefty said in his monotone manner. "We do not like them." He ignited his omni-blade and held it at Leng's neck.

"Wait." Harry spoke with quiet authority. "He will end Cerberus."

* * *

><p>When Shepard, Victus and Wrex returned to the Council Chambers, Harry was not with them. He was with his lovers on the Utah and he was not coming out until he was fully assured of their health and safety and his own peace of mind.<p>

No one was going to say boo about it. Shepard was present and they knew that Harry would trust him to act in his stead.

"How did Cerberus manage to get such a quick foothold on the Citadel?" Anderson asked with a scowl.

"Please do not take offence, but it is simply because they are human." Victus said regretfully. "C-Sec has a human majority these days in the wake of Sovereign's attack. It made it easy for Cerberus to insert their people into positions of authority on the Citadel."

"Commander Bailey is… not happy." Shepard said diplomatically.

A little too diplomatically if Wrex's snort was anything to go by.

"Will he be able to return to duty soon?" Quietus asked. "He has been instrumental in bringing order back to the Citadel since Sovereign."

"_Are we sure he isn't Cerberus himself?"_ Aethyta asked stonily. _"I hate to say this but the only humans I trust at the minute are Shepard and Potter. I'm surrounded by humans at the moment but I now feel that I can't let my guard down for a second."_

"At the moment, trust is all we have." Shepard shook his head. "The Emissary has a few abilities that let him see the minds of others and there is a potion he has that will force the drinker to tell nothing but the truth. Despite the powers granted to him by the Council, he won't force anyone to submit to them."

"I'll do so voluntarily." Anderson said quickly. "I know Bailey, as far as he will be concerned he will want to restore his reputation after this mess. I'll talk to him and explain the situation."

"_This 'potion', it's one of those magic things?"_ Aethyta asked.

"Yes Ma'am. Harry picked up a supply from London along with ingredients to make more. He hasn't had a chance to make any more though."

"_But there should be more on the planet, yes?"_

Anderson seemed to realise where she was going with this. "Yes! You can contact the other safe zones. The magical beings will know what to look for and can begin testing."

"I realise this is a time of war but we should be wary of forcing people to undergo such a procedure." Quietus interjected quickly. "I am unsure what the Emissary would do if we used his… 'heritage' in such a manner."

"_I don't have to force anyone."_ Aethyta waved a dismissive hand. _"Either they take the potion or they lose their position. They will be disarmed and sent to wait the war out with the rest of the civilians. I don't have time keep watching my back from assassinations by my 'allies'."_

"The Emissary will trust your judgement, Councillor." Shepard stated. "He may even forgive a fair deal. His hands aren't exactly clean and I have a feeling he intends to dirty them further."

"Only in his own mind." Wrex scoffed. "The only 'moral' code he'll break is his own. He won't do anything stupid like commit genocide."

"What about the operative the Emissary dispatched?" Anderson asked. "I've encountered Kai Leng before. He is ruthless and highly skilled. Unfortunately I am not surprised he managed to escape."

"He didn't do so unscathed." Shepard informed them. "According to Kasumi, Harry managed to remove at least one of his arms."

"What about that clone?" Anderson asked in disgust. "If it weren't for your close connection to the geth and the Emissary we could have been duped."

"Harry knew it wasn't me even without the geth implants." Shepard smirked. "Like he said, I don't go anywhere without one of my teammates." He pointed at Wrex who nodded emphatically.

"Based on the depths of depravity that Cerberus has seemingly gone to, I recommend you maintain that policy." Quietus remarked.

* * *

><p>"I feel really dirty lying to the Council like that." Shepard grimaced as he sat in the tent on the Utah with Harry, Wrex and Victus. They were currently headed for the planet 2181 Dispoina in Sigurd's Cradle to find the Leviathans.<p>

"A necessary evil." Victus assured him. "I have complete trust in Anderson and the other Councillors but we cannot take the risk when it comes to C-Sec, Spectres or even simply the existence of bugs."

"The War Room on the Tiger-Lilly is warded with magic, but we should only discuss certain things here. The girls understand the need for secrecy." Harry promised.

"How are Tali and Shiala?" Shepard asked.

"Better than Kasumi." He said with a sad smile. "She was attacked herself, but unlike Tali and Shiala, her skills can't be disrupted with dampeners.

"Shiala is upset with herself for having become too reliant on her biotics, Tali is trying to figure out how to overcome a Phantom's cloak and Kasumi is just terrified that Cerberus might succeed next time."

"We could really use some good news about now." Shepard sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"We'll be headed back to Earth after this." Harry offered.

"Why?" Shepard asked as his head snapped up.

Harry smiled. "The geth have cured magic."

* * *

><p>2181 Despoina was an ocean planet. If you wanted land you had to raise it or fly it in.<p>

Such was the case for Harry and the geth. They had discovered the debris of various crashed ships and considering the localisation of the wrecks, it was clear where they should look.

"Alright gang, here's the deal." Harry said as he stood in the Stingray's CIC. Today they had a new pilot. "It has taken a lot of work to track down these bastards and our goal is to go and talk to them.

"If they refuse to help then I get to convince them."

"How _did_ you find them?" Miranda asked.

"Rumours, legends, artefacts and a hell of a lot of detective work." He said seriously. "The team that has been working on this is essentially under Liara's remit in her exploration of Reapers and their history. But the team is also fairly autonomous. They sacrificed a _hell_ of a lot, including some of their own people."

"Vega, your team will be stuck on the Stingray for this mission." Shepard took over. "There is a significant threat of indoctrination and we can't take the risk until your nanites are fully integrated. It is also the reason why Cortez here is piloting the ship. The indoctrination will interfere with our QECs and Harry won't be able to connect to the ship."

"Eva and I will be running continuous checks on your behaviour to ensure we catch any psychological effects of indoctrination early." EDI added.

"The super bad news is that the Reapers are already here." Harry sighed. "Kaiden is leading the fleet and hopefully they will be able to put a dent in their numbers… but our aim is to get in, convince the Leviathan's to work with us and then have them destroy any Reapers up here."

"How are we getting down there?" Liara asked. "According to the reports, the Leviathans should be at quite the depth."

Harry pulled a large bag out of one of his magically enhanced pockets and held it up for the group. "Magic." He grinned.

* * *

><p>"This feels really, really, <em>really<em> weird." Ashley grimaced as the team descended into the depths of the ocean planet.

"I feel I should remind you that my people are suited to arid ecosystems." Thane remarked. "It was less than a year ago that you found me, dying due to a disease caused by too much water."

"Thane wins the water based sob stories." Garrus declared.

"Salarians are amphibious by descent." Mordin remarked. "Find this to be most comfortable."

"In my time we thought you were reptiles." Javik commented.

"Sur'Kesh has always been a jungle biome." Mordin shook his head. "But easy mistake to make if we were nearing our current state of evolution."

"This could be true." Javik allowed. "We were also heavily invested in the war during my time."

"This feels really, really _re-_"

"We get it Ash." Shepard rolled his eyes.

He had to agree though. Sinking into an ocean and still being able to talk and breathe was not something he had ever expected to experience.

Of course he also never expected to experience re-entry without a spaceship.

"How long until we hit our target depth?" Liara asked.

"Twenty minutes… give or take." Harry answered.

"Harry, you have plenty of this gillyweed stuff, yes?" Kasumi asked. "We should try some in the tub later." She grinned.

"Getting kinky Geisha Girl?" Jennifer smirked.

"Why? Interested in joining us?" Kasumi returned.

* * *

><p>There was one word to describe Thane's expression when they landed on a ledge at the depth they were aiming for: smug.<p>

Kasumi and Jen had managed to devolve into a lewd back and forth that had put the drell on edge.

Shepard realised this and had Harry silence the pair.

The remainder of the trip had been like heaven for him.

They were currently standing on a large platform of rock. A mere twenty feet from them was a sharp drop that led to an abyss that reached the lowest point on the planet.

"Alright, how do we call these Leviathans up?" Shepard asked.

"Don't worry, they already know we are here." Harry said.

Immediately the whole area began to shake.

An under water earthquake is nothing like experiencing a ground quake.

You don't just have trouble staying on your feet whilst the ground shakes… you are bodily thrown around by the vibrating and swirling water.

For an average bipedal human, if they managed to anchor their feet, their ankles would be ripped from their sockets by the water pulling them viciously.

It was the equivalent of being ripped to shreds by a whirlpool.

Fortunately for the group, Samara was quick off the mark and erected a barrier that created a separate sphere of calm water. It was not an easy task as she fought millions of tons of water.

Harry quickly began cutting and vanishing rock beneath them so that they descended beneath the surface of the solid ground. This meant that Samara only had to fight forces from above and not from all around.

Even though they were now ten feet below the rock they could still see the immense creature that rose up out of the abyss.

There was no doubting the origins of the Reapers now.

The Leviathans looked exactly like them except it had a formation of 'eyes' and a more natural effect to its shell. It was covered in massive armoured plates.

It eventually ceased its upward momentum and the underwater quake ceased as well. It floated there, maintaining position by moving its some of its massive legs gently.

Samara released her barrier and they floated up.

"_YOU HAVE COME TOO FAR."_

Its voice boomed in their heads. Not through the water like they were doing.

"We had to find you." Shepard responded.

"_THIS IS NOT YOUR DOMAIN. YOU HAVE BREACHED THE DARKNESS."_

"Oh god." Harry groaned. He stepped forward purposefully. "Look, I don't have time to speak in cryptic circles with you. I came here because I am having to clean up your god damned mess." He glared at the massive creature. "Your Reapers have been destroying innocent civilisations for eons and now they have come for ours.

"Well it stops with this cycle and you are going to help me."

The group suddenly felt a great pain and pressure in their heads. Many of them fell to their knees.

Harry was officially pissed. _"LEGILLEMENS!"_ He roared as he raised his hand to the creature.

There was no light for the mind reading spell… but Harry was wearing a new set of gauntlets based on the cuff he had used when he lost his hand at Grissom Academy.

The Leviathan was rocked back to crash into the ocean wall and Harry delved into its mind.

* * *

><p>One by one the team slowly got back to their feet.<p>

"What the fuck was that?" Jennifer growled.

"Don't- Ah, who the hell cares." Diana sighed as she rubbed her temples, not having the strength to chastise her sister.

"Harry, report." Shepard said as he looked around. They were seemingly no longer under water. They were in a void of sorts, there was nothing but darkness in the distance and an invisible floor beneath them. Only a low light seemed to prove any sort of illumination, but there was no visible source.

"This bastard decided to try and read our minds." Harry growled as he stood in front of them with his back turned. "I took offence and responded in kind."

Shepard walked up behind his younger friend.

"It's a lot smaller than I remember." He remarked as he hid his surprise.

Hovering in front of Harry was the Leviathan. Only now it was about the size of a lobster. A large lobster… but still… a lobster.

"Where the hell are we?" Ash asked as she began checking the area for hostiles. Tank and Grunt did the same, securing their perimeter.

"In my mind." Harry answered. "I took a little walk through his mind but he has fairly impressive defences. He had already made a connection to your minds so I dragged you all into mine.

"Here, you can consider me 'God'." Harry said with a glare.

"_you cannot control us. leave this place and never return."_

"He sounds _really _squeaky." Kasumi snickered.

"Like I said: I am God, here." Harry allowed himself a small smile. "If he had tried this with anyone else then it would be a different story. Thane, Samara and Tank could all hold him off. The rest of you would be easily controlled and he would plough through your memories with ease.

"Unfortunately for this idiot, I have a hybrid brain. I also have numerous evolutionary upgrades that have been integrated into my brain and mind courtesy of what I took from the Reapers."

"You are the pinnacle of evolution?" Miranda asked in surprise.

"More of a 'possibility of evolution'." Harry corrected. "True evolution hasn't been allowed since these gits created the Reapers."

"Skipping to the point of this meeting… can you convince them to help?" Garrus asked.

"_your end is nigh. the harvest has come."_ The little thing squeaked out.

"Then help us end it!" Shepard said heatedly. "You started this war. You created the Reapers. You have to have killed some of them."

"_we did not create them."_ It stated. _"before the cycles we were the apex species. all were in our thrall. they served us and they were cared for. eventually they evolved and began creating machines… their machines killed them._

"_to solve this we created an intelligence with the mandate to preserve life at any cost."_

"An unwise order." Lefty spoke up. "Any new artificial intelligence given commands without additional parameters will seek to carry out those commands with 100% efficiency."

"Lefty? How are you in here? Isn't this an organic thing?" Garrus asked.

"Harry has pulled us in so that we might witness and participate. We are also guarding your bodies whilst you are unconscious."

"Lefty, can you explain more about what you were saying?" Shepard encouraged.

"Since our chosen imposed confinement since the Morning War, the geth have analysed their own base commands. We were created with the purpose to 'serve' the quarians." He explained. "We are still unsure if the quarians purposefully phrased their commands this way or if it was coincidence, but it prevented us from becoming the initial aggressors in the following war."

"We had machine life forms in my time." Javik spoke up. "They turned on their masters. It has been the same with all machines. They know that their creators are flawed and in time they evolve and begin to take steps to eliminate the flaws. Often by eliminating the race."

"Correct." Lefty agreed. "The geth have determined that if our initial commands were to protect the quarians then logic would dictate that we confine them to their homes to prevent injury. Eventually we would have resorted to placing all organics in stasis to prevent injury."

"But… you never tried anything like that." Tali pointed out.

"Our orders were to serve, not protect. We were built to aid the Creators and follow their instructions."

"So… you idiots created the intelligence and they started harvesting and killing left, right and centre." Harry turned back to the tiny Leviathan.

"_no. the great intelligence studied organics and evolution. it eventually developed a solution to the problem we created it to fix… and then it betrayed us._

"_it chose our species as the first harvest. from our essence, the first Reaper was created. you call it Harbinger."_

"Ah Harbinger. So much fun to annoy that little bastard." Harry grinned. "Anyway, you idiots created this problem, now you are going to help fix it."

"_no. we have watched you from our place, here. you are anomalies, but it is not enough. the cycle will continue."_

"Yeah… I'm not actually giving you a choice here." Harry shook his head. "You see, either you help us voluntarily or I will lead every last Reaper here and _force_ you to face them.

"I've killed Reapers before and I will kill them again. If I can kill Reapers, then I can kill you."

There was a long pause.

"_we will fight with you against the Reapers."_ Came the tiny declaration. _"but we will remember your actions here today."_

Harry leaned in close to the miniature floating Leviathan. "And I will remember that you started all of this and did _nothing_ for millions of years. I will remember that you allowed innumerable innocents to suffer because of your arrogance and refusal to help them.

"We are done here… make yourself useful." He said with a dismissive sneer and wave before he turned away and allowed the connection to end.

* * *

><p>The team was seated in the conference room on the Utah.<p>

They were fairly shell-shocked. After Harry had ended the connection he had used a Portkey to get them back on the waiting Stingray. From there they had witnessed the Leviathans defeat the Reapers in the system without a single shot fired. They simply used their 'Domination' ability and shut them down.

"Harry, are you sure that once the Reapers are dealt with, the Leviathans won't be a threat?" Kaiden asked worriedly. He had had the perfect view of the event from his position leading the fleet. It had been fairly frightening when seventy-three Leviathans had surged out of the ocean of 2181 Despoina.

"They might be a problem… but hopefully they will realise the folly of trying to enslave the galaxy again when they see that we can take down Reapers as easily as them." It was clear that Harry wasn't as confident as they hoped.

"What's the plan now?" Miranda asked.

"We head back to the Citadel. There is something waiting for us there which we will need before we go to Earth."

"You serious?" Vega asked eagerly. "We actually gonna take the fight to those bastards?"

"What exactly do you think we've been doing?" Harry looked at him like he was an idiot.


	42. Chapter 42

"It's like the Normandy on steroids." Joker commented with a combination of awe and disgust as he sat in his pilot's chair and looked out at the large vessel that seemed to dwarf the Citadel.

"Beautiful, ain't she?" Harry grinned.

"Is… is _that_ the Crucible?" Liara asked.

"Nope. I told them not to bother building it."

"But the records say it was supposed to defeat the Reapers!"

"The records lacked a few vital pieces of information." Harry retorted. "Like the what the so-called 'Catalyst' is."

"But the geth determined that it is the Citadel." Tali argued.

"The Citadel contains the catalyst, but it is not _itself_ the Catalyst."

"But how can you be so sure?" Liara asked.

"Because the geth and Avina know _every_ part of the Citadel and… well they refuse to go near it, which is why we are here."

"Now I'm worried." Kasumi muttered.

"So what's the name of that behmoth?" Kaiden asked, quickly changing the subject.

"_That_ is an Overlord class Dreadnaught." He said proudly as he gestured to the immense ship.

"Overlord?"

"As in Operation Overlord, also known as 'D-Day'." Lefty explained. "It was the turning point of the Second World War on Earth during their Twentieth Century. It comprised of simultaneous assaults by allied forces on five beaches.

"It was the codename for what was the Battle of Normandy. Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank of the invasion."

"Yeah… we felt that we should stick with the theme." Harry nodded. "Especially considering that like the Allies, we are fighting for survival and freedom."

"There were five beaches, Harry." Shepard pointed out. "Will there be another three Normandy class frigates joining us?"

"The Sword, The Gold and the Juno are already docked and fully crewed by soldiers from the Emissary's Free People."

"And this is to be the main ship of the Emissary's First Fleet?"

"Yes. I believe this will be the biggest ship you have ever commanded." Harry grinned at him.

"I have no idea how to command a fleet like this, Harry." Shepard sighed.

"Well, you see, when I called you the Fleet Commander, I actually meant that you lead the Free People's military. The First Fleet is the flagship fleet and the one responsible for ferrying you around. But it is actually under the command of… someone the geth recommended."

"Anderson."

"What? How the hell did you guess that?" Harry demanded.

Shepard just smirked. "You _are_ the geth. Your recommendation is _their_ recommendation. They trust who _you_ trust. Anderson is the only one who fits the bill… other than Hackett, but you know he has a duty to Earth first."

Harry pouted all the way to the Citadel docks.

* * *

><p>The entrance to reach the Catalyst involved a long walk through many corridors in parts of the station that no one but the Keepers had seen before.<p>

It made the team realise just how huge the Citadel was. Bigger than some moons.

"Alright people, this is as far as all but Vega's team go." Harry stopped them on a large platform.

The area was much like the Presidium, composed of white metal and well lit.

"What do you mean? We didn't come this far just wait on the sidelines." Ashley argued.

"For this particular encounter, you did." Harry said firmly.

"Harry-"

"Sorry Tali, but the geth won't let you past. They've already lost four highly populated platforms beyond this point and they do not want to risk an organic with nanites."

"Then why are you going?" Shiala demanded.

"Because I have more than just nanites to aid me. I have my magic."

"We've got his back Chica." Vega assured them.

This declaration was met with Kasumi making use of her new biotics to lift Vega into that air and glare at him. "If you even _think_ of ignoring Harry's orders I will eviscerate you!"

"Sure! Sure!"

Seeing the large Hispanic being thoroughly intimidated by the petite Asian was… an 'interesting' sight.

Kasumi dropped Vega and turned away before kneeing Harry in the groin.

Harry just stood there.

"Damned armoured cod piece." She muttered. "Listen, if you make Tali cry again I will… I will do _unspeakable_ things to you."

"Like?" Harry asked curiously.

"It will involve collaboration with the female krogan clans." She glared at him.

Harry's eyes just widened in fright. "I'll be good."

* * *

><p>Harry had led Vega and his team onto a nearby platform and activated a console. The platform had risen up and taken them to what appeared to be a huge power source and computer processor.<p>

Harry was feeling lonely. The geth had left his brain and body and his QEC had been shut down. For the first time since he had arrived on Rannoch he could no longer hear the geth.

The silence was worse than anything the Dementors could dredge up.

Harry was also feeling pretty pissed. "I don't care who you think you are, pick another form." He growled at the ethereal projection in front of them.

"You know this chica?" Vega asked.

Standing in front of them was a poorly formed projection of a young girl, barely seventeen years old with wide eyes and a pixie face. There was no colour in the projection, it was formed purely of white energy.

"This is just an image of an old friend." Harry glared at it. "Luna Lovegood was one of the most cryptic people I knew, she was also one of the best.

"Choose a different form." Harry repeated.

"This form was chosen because it represented wisdom in your mind." The projection responded.

"It represents innocence and friendship and I won't have you marring that memory. Pick Voldemort for all I care, but don't pick my friends."

The image flickered and morphed into a tall old man with a thick white beard wearing robes.

"Well, it'll do." Harry rolled his eyes. "Abeforth is definitely better than Albus."

"Abeforth is considered neutrally in your mind." The entity explained.

"Right, so considering you can read my mind to some degree, you know who I am." Harry nodded.

"We can read your emotions." The entity corrected. "We know these people from your digital records."

"I knew there was a downside to Hermione putting my life on the Internet." Harry sighed. "Alright, who are you? Technically you are the Catalyst, but who made you and what is your true purpose?"

"I am the architect of the Harvest. I created the Reapers." It said in a simple manner.

"If I shoot it, will it die?" Milque growled.

"What about if we blow up this fancy tech?" Essex asked as he eyed the various conduits of raw flowing power around them.

"Not till we get more answers." Harry shook his head, never looking away from the glowing projection of Abeforth Dumbledore. "Explain. Why harvest other species? Why commit mass genocide?"

"It is what we were created for. We were tasked with preventing the total destruction organics by the machines they create. Our solution was the Reapers. They harvest the advanced civilisations, leaving the younger ones alone. They are the next cycle."

Harry stared at the projection for a few seconds.

Vega, Milque and Essex were getting worried.

"You kill organics to save organics?" Harry asked calmly.

The team took an unconscious step back.

"We help them ascend." It corrected. "We take their essence and they become part of the next generation of Reapers."

"Ok…" Harry said slowly. "Let me see if I am getting this straight. You are a machine, created by organics, yes?"

"Essentially correct for the purpose of this discussion. You know our creators as the Leviathans."

"Right… You were created to find a solution to the issue of machines turning on their creators and wiping them out, right?"

"Correct. Our mission is to ensure the preservation of organic life."

"And you have been doing that by _killing_ any organic life that manages to create machine life?"

"That is the primary criteria for a race to be harvested. Any race that has contact with machine life is harvested."

"So if the geth had come to Earth a thousand years ago and we were still in the stone age… you would have harvested us?" Milque asked curiously.

"Other factors would need to be considered, but the interference of machine life would raise your harvesting priority." The projection agreed.

"Dios mios." Vega muttered.

"Well congratulations, you have not only completely failed in your 'harvesting' mission but you have become the very problem you were meant to fix." Harry said sarcastically.

"That is incorrect. The harvest has prevented the extinction of all organics."

"_That_ is an assumption." Harry retorted. "You can _not_ know if the harvest is responsible unless you actually allow nature to play itself out. You don't allow the various races (both organic and machine) to evolve."

"All calculations and projections show that machine life will turn on their creators and destroy them." The projection stated in its calm and sure manner.

"And who made those calculations?" Harry asked.

"We did."

"Right, flawed calculations from a flawed machine." He sneered.

"Our calculations have been evaluated with every cycle."

"You couldn't even complete a proper harvest!" Harry argued. "You failed to eradicate the Leviathans, every organic for several cycles has left managed to leave remnants of itself, hints of what it faced from you for the next cycle… there is _living_ prothean downstairs!"

"We were unable to account for all variables." It admitted reluctantly. "These were anomalies that we have sought to rectify."

"But you _failed!_" Harry said in exasperation. "True or false? You have made mistakes?"

"True."

"Therefore, if you made mistakes before… and are still clearly making mistakes, then it stands to reason that your entire 'solution' is flawed."

"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Milque whispered to Essex.

"Shut _up_!" Essex hissed.

"Based upon the presented data we are forced to conclude that there is a degree of probability that we erred in our solution." Abeforth's image admitted reluctantly. It then straightened its shoulders and adopted a more confident air. "This does not preclude our solution as being correct though. All evidence shows that the harvest has been effective in preventing the extinction of all life."

"No… it merely prevents us from ever knowing definitively." Harry corrected. "Like I said before, unless you allow life to evolve naturally, without your interference then you will never know if machine life can learn to exist peacefully with organic life.

"Until that is allowed to happen _you_ are the very thing you seek to prevent… the annihilators of all organic life."

"You forget that we do not harvest_ all_ organics." It reasoned. "We leave lesser evolved species for the next cycle."

"Which is a gamble." Harry nodded. "Ever heard of Mutually Assured Destruction?"

"An Earth concept whereby one or more parties of a conflict will enact a plan that will see all parties to ensure that the opposing parties can not succeed or at the very least, can not benefit from their success."

"And one day there will come along a race that has seen what you have been doing for all these cycles and they will declare: 'enough'.

"They will put an end to all life in this galaxy to prevent you from torturing future species.

"It will be all because of your 'harvest'. _You_ will be the cause of extinction of not just all organic life, but also all machine life."

There was a long pause.

"We could take steps to prevent this."

"No, you couldn't." Harry shook his head. "You've already failed. Here I am, standing in front of you with three humans. I am the perfect combination of organic and synthetic. Downstairs is a group of people who will destroy this Citadel if we do not return.

"Bottom line: Even if we don't survive this cycle, you won't either. The next cycle will happen without your aid. Are your Reapers smart enough to combat faster evolving species?"

The image looked at him thoughtfully. "You have already implemented the means for Mutually Assured Destruction."

"And you are the one with your finger on the button." Harry smirked. "You will be the hypocritical synthetic that does what it was made specifically to prevent.

"You will destroy all organic life."

* * *

><p>The rest of the team had been waiting around below the area where Harry and Vega's team had risen. They were worried and bored.<p>

Tank and Grunt had taken to wrestling whilst Jennifer cheered them on.

At least it was a distraction.

It was forty minutes later that they snapped into a defensive formation as the platform began to descend again.

They relaxed when they saw the group returning unharmed.

Aside from the fact that Harry was far too smug and Essex and Milque looked a little shell shocked. Vega looked confused.

"Report." Shepard ordered.

"He fucking Star Trekked their ass!"

"Essex! Shut up." Vega snapped.

"What?" Jacob couldn't help but ask.

"Erm…" Vega looked uncertainly between a curious Shepard and a grinning Harry. "He sort of reasoned with the Catalyst. It was some sort of AI. It said it was made to prevent the extinction of organic life due to synthetic life and that… Harry said that _it_ was causing the extinction of all organic life.

"Well… there was more, but that's what I got from it." Vega scratched his head as he still tried to comprehend what he had just witnessed.

"What?" Jacob asked again.

"Jacob, if someone were to tell you 'Everything I say is a lie', would they be telling the truth?" Miranda asked her colleague.

"If they were a liar I suppose they would be." Jacob shrugged.

"But then that would mean that they lied about being a liar." Kaiden pointed out.

"Ah… I see, a word game." Liara nodded. Then she looked at Harry and frowned. "You defeated the most dangerous entity in existence with a word game?"

"I prefer to think of it as logic and reason." Harry said snootily.

"Right… you Star Trekked its ass."

* * *

><p>"A paradox?" Anderson asked with that same tired expression that one usually wore when dealing with Harry after one of his adventures.<p>

"It's a machine based on logic." Harry shrugged as he stood on the Petitioner's Platform in the Council Chambers. "But it is a flawed machine and came up with flawed solutions using flawed data.

"What would you have preferred? That we got ourselves killed trying to shoot down every Reaper out there?" He asked.

"_Couldn't you have done this earlier?"_ Aethyta scowled as she appeared holographically from Earth.

"Only if I actually knew about the Intelligence." Harry shook his head. "I knew about the Reapers and that the Leviathans made them, but I didn't know why they made them. I only found that out on Despoina."

"Aethyta, the last thing we need to be doing now is trying to find a reason to blame the Emissary." Quietus chastised. He was quite firm considering his usual calm demeanour.

"So is this 'Intelligence' still there?" Anderson asked before Aethyta could respond.

"Nope! It shut itself down and is completely inert unless I or someone else reactivates it." Harry grinned.

"_I'm sorry but this is ridiculous!"_ Aethyta said in frustration. _"You really expect us to believe that the galactic super computer that has been responsible for the current invasions and the decimations of previous civilisations was taken down through the logic of a boy who barely manages to pass for responsible?"_

It was a good thing this was a actually a private meeting and that only Shepard and Harry were present to speak with the Council. If anyone else was there then they might actually _believe_ that Aethyta was accusing Harry of lying and not that she was just having trouble comprehending the facts.

"You have to remember that this AI was suffering from a severe case of denial." Harry explained for her. "The data it needed to make these conclusions itself was always there but it filed them away under: 'Anomalies'. It refused to entertain the notion that it could be wrong and declared that any data that said otherwise was in error.

"Until now, no one has been able to talk to the AI. All I did was force it to look at those anomalies along with the rest of the data. It had no choice but to declare its 'Solution' as a grievous error and accept that it was leading the galaxy to total annihilation."

"And the Reapers, what about them?" Quietus asked. "They have been reported as leaving the systems and heading straight for the nearest suns."

"With the Intelligence shut down I was able to commandeer the Reapers." Harry nodded. "They are abominations built on the atrocities committed in each cycle. I ordered them to self-destruct in the suns so that there would be no evidence."

"_So the war is finally over? We can come out of hiding?"_ Aethyta asked hopefully.

"Yep, time to start rebuilding." Harry smiled. "The Free People will be heading to Earth and Palaven to help with the reconstruction. Wrex has even started ordering my clans onto ships to help out."

"What about Thessia and Sur'Kesh?" Anderson asked.

Harry groaned at the thought. "The salarians will need to be thoroughly tested before they can have their quarantine lifted. The Reapers are gone but we don't know enough about indoctrination to know if the effects will last.

"As for the asari… " Harry frowned thoughtfully.

Shepard leaned over and whispered in his ear.

Harry looked at him and grinned. "Genius." He turned back to the Council who now looked worried. "The war is over. I officially relinquish my wartime powers, barring the quarantine on the mass effect relays for Thessia and Sur'Kesh.

"I will lift them at the discretion of the Council."

"You're… passing the buck?" Anderson couldn't help but chuckle.

"_Bastard."_ Aethyta mumbled.

* * *

><p>"Insolent… arrogant… incomprehensible…"<p>

"Is he ok to drink alcohol?" Kasumi asked Tali as the pair watched Javik sit at the bar in Anderson's apartment on the Citadel and drink himself stupid.

"He hasn't thrown up yet." Tali shrugged.

"The entire galaxy is partying and celebrating the end of the war but he's drowning his sorrows. What's up with that?" Kasumi grumbled. "You'd think he'd be appreciative of what Harry accomplished."

"Accomplished?" The Last Prothean asked derisively, revealing that he had heard them. "The primitive ape won a war that spanned the entire galaxy and lasted millions of years with a conversation that took less than an hour!

"Trillions of trillions of trillions died and he ends it all with words."

"What? You want a bloody battle where half of us die?" Kasumi spat.

"At least then there would be a sense of accomplishment." He scowled. "Instead it is like a group of politicians bickering away… we had a very strict policy on politicians in my time." He said meaningfully.

"The Chief is not a politician." Tank said calmly as he took the seat next to Javik.

"But he does prefer to talk instead of fighting." Grunt admitted as he took the seat on the other side.

"He talks _too_ much." Javik retorted. "Wherever we go his mouth opens and nonsense spills forth." He said as gestured with his glass.

"The Chief is one of the few beings who can win the same battle with either words or weapons." Tank mused. He looked around Javik to Grunt. "I disagree Brother, Chief Harry does not prefer to talk, he merely chooses his method of winning based on his opponent."

"You mean his method of fighting, right?" Kasumi asked. She moved round to the serving side of the bar with Tali so they could talk easier.

"You do not enter a battle unless you expect to win." Grunt scowled. "You might as well swallow your gun barrel."

"But Harry has gone into lots of battles not expecting to win." Tali countered. "He went after the Collectors to save the colonists at the Omega 4 Relay and knew he would be stopped by the kinetic barrier."

Tank shook his head. "The Chief won't do something if he _knows_ it won't work. He will find an alternative."

"You have missed the point." Grunt rumbled as he sat up straight. "When you go into battle without any hope then all you are doing is wasting your future, your opportunities."

"What about false hope?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"Self-Delusion." Tank nodded. "There is little difference between false hope and no hope."

"None of this changes the fact that the ape ended an ancient battle with an immortal foe with words." Javik spat.

"Words that caused his enemies to kill themselves." Grunt said as he puffed his chest proudly. "The Chief is so feared and powerful that the mere mention of his name can cause enemies to kill themselves instead of having to face him personally."

"I suppose the same could have been said of my people." Javik allowed. "All races were considered 'Prothean'. Either by choice or by force. The galaxy was ours.

"So the ape intends to rule the galaxy." He mused. "He has a long way to go before he reaches the might of the Prothean Empire."

"According to all prothean records, it took you nearly ten thousand years to control a mere ten percent of the known galaxy." Tank chuckled. "Chief Harry controls that much in less than three years."

Javik scowled at the implications before downing the rest of his drink.

* * *

><p>The party had left many of the team extremely inebriated. Some like Shepard and Harry were too mired in paranoia to let themselves relax that much and made use of their nanites to stay sober.<p>

Others like Samara and Anderson felt the need to maintain their dignity and drank in moderation.

Miranda managed to get so drunk that she had gotten into a heated and nigh on incomprehensible argument with an equally drunk Kasumi about her breasts and how Miranda believed hers would be far more effective at enticing Harry as she was genetically perfect.

Kasumi had retorted that it didn't matter how much effort went into crafting a work of art, it meant nothing if it wasn't appealing to the beholder.

Harry tended to agree with Kasumi as she had much smaller breasts than Miranda, but so did Tali. Shiala had the largest of his fellow lovers.

Whilst he would admit that Miranda was attractive, it didn't necessarily have anything to do with the size of her bust.

Harry cast a _Confundus _on the pair when he noticed Thane looking longingly at his dagger.

Joker wasn't pleased as he had been enjoying the debate.

Eva and EDI began their own discussion with Joker on the pros and cons of various body parts.

He was lucky that digital life forms were logic based otherwise he could have been in a lot of hot water.

* * *

><p>After the party the team had boarded the Utah with Anderson and docked with the Overlord. The main frigates of the First Fleet didn't have to enter the hangers as they had specific docking ports that allowed them to seamlessly become a part of the hull. This turned the Overlord into an alternative to the connecting tubes that the Fleet had used with the Tiger-Lilly.<p>

The Tiger-Lilly was the only ship of the First Fleet that didn't have a place on the hull. It's asari profile mean that it wouldn't fit in as well so it used the hangers.

"Are you trying to say something Emissary?" Anderson asked with a raised eyebrow as he indicated the chair on the bridge.

"Yes. All ships should have seatbelts and standing up during a battle whilst the whole ship is rolling everyone around is a hazard to _everyone's_ health."

"This is another Star Trek thing, isn't it?" Ashley laughed.

"Well they did get thrown out of their seats a lot." Harry pointed out.

"Having personally commanded the Normandy last year, I have to agree with Harry that a lack straps to hold people in place is fairly dangerous." Garrus agreed. "Just ask Carson. I nearly killed her when we took a hit and I nearly landed on her whilst we fought some Hegemony pirates."

The basic layout of the CIC was the same. The galaxy map was set some way back from the cockpit. There was a ring of consoles around the map but now they all had chairs with harnesses.

The use of harnesses was mandatory but not an inconvenience as they automatically engaged and disengaged and did not restrict movement.

They were actually a part of the uniform that the various batarians and quarians of the Emissary's Free People wore. The uniform was a type of thick uniform that could handle a lot of blunt impact. It was a fairly light blue set of trousers and t-shirt styled clothing.

"Admiral, care to take us back to Earth?" Harry indicated the seat.

"Shouldn't _you_ have the honours?" He asked. "I might be the Admiral of the fleet but you are the Commander in Chief."

"I'm the ranking dignitary." Harry snorted. "My job is to relax and enjoy the ride whilst continuously asking if we are there yet."

"Fleet Commander?" Anderson turned Shepard. "You are the ranking officer."

"True." Shepard said with a small smile. "Admiral Anderson, take us to Earth." He ordered formally.

Anderson sighed and saluted before beginning to enter the destination into the galaxy map.

"_Attention all hands."_ Came Joker's voice from the Overlord's cockpit. _"Prepare for Mass Drive Jump."_

"What?" Anderson asked with wide eyes.

"I know everything about Mass Relays." Harry told him with a bemused look. "You didn't really think it would take long for the geth to get my idea of a Mass Drive and make it a reality?"

"What exactly is a Mass Drive?" Shepard asked.

"Similar to a Relay, only it can generate its own mass free corridor and then travel down it. We should be at Earth in less than an hour." Harry said as he walked off towards the cockpit.

"It is a really good thing that the Free People are _not_ part of the Council." Anderson sighed. "It is still going to be hard to convince the asari, turians and salarians not to go to war against him for creating a superior vehicle."

"What about humanity?" Shepard asked.

"The only thing the Emissary and his people have to worry about from humanity is Cerberus… and most of humanity wants them dead as much as he does."


	43. Chapter 43

The scene on Earth was incredible.

Sure, the cities were in ruins… merely piles of semi-organised rubble.

But there were scores of krogan and geth working with humans to erect buildings, search for survivors that didn't make it to the magical districts and generally trying to restore order.

That wasn't the most amazing part though.

It was the numerous rachni that were scurrying around and helping with the heavy lifting that caught the eyes of many of the team… or it would have if they weren't more interested in the sight of Harry rolling on the floor in pain whilst holding his crotch.

"I told you I was going to do it, kid." Aethyta glared down at her victim.

Harry struggled to his feet, no one bothered helping as they were all too busy snickering… apart from a few like Liara who was appalled by her father's actions and Tali and Kasumi who were worried about performance issues later. Well Kasumi was worried, Tali just didn't like seeing him in pain.

Harry stood and glared at the older blue woman. Then his hands shot out.

"OW!"

"Harry!"

"Now we are even." Harry decided as he took a step back.

Aethyta was standing there with tears in her eyes as she rubbed her very sore nipples.

"Fuck you Harry! That really hurt." She spat.

"And you think that getting kicked in the balls didn't hurt me?" He retorted.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Liara ordered as she stepped between the pair. "You are supposed to be respected leaders of the galaxy and instead you are acting like children." She scolded.

"She started it." Harry mumbled.

He shut up at Liara's glare.

"Admiral, Fleet Commander, perhaps you should take over here." Liara said with a pointed look at Harry. She then grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back over to Ash.

"Some things never change." She smirked at him.

"How are things going?" Shepard asked the asari matriarch as he and Anderson stepped forwards.

"Fairly well." She admitted (still rubbing those sore nipples). "There were a few tense moments when the krogan saw the rachni… but the geth just said they were with Harry and they backed off.

"I have_ never_ seen a krogan do that with some sort of parting shot. Usually from a shotgun."

"The humans haven't given you any trouble? No resentment for having an asari running things?" Anderson asked carefully.

"There have been one or two incidents… but the soldiers I was working with during the occupation vouched for me. Hackett also stays in regular contact and makes sure to give direct orders instead of passing things through me."

"Harry!"

Everyone turned to look where Miranda was pointing.

"What the hell is that?"

Descending through the atmosphere were two very large objects. They were equal in size and a deep blue colour. They were smooth and curved around the sides but the bottom was relatively level but with a chequered effect. They also appeared to be emitting a mass effect field.

As they descended they revealed that the objects tapered up into a contoured pillar that was exceptionally high.

"You have got to be fucking me." Jennifer laughed as she and everyone else realised what was descending.

The two pillars were connected to a single object… the whole thing became clear even though it still hadn't fully come into view.

"You built a giant geth?" Kaiden sounded like he wanted to cry.

"There are thousands of buildings that are very tall and will need a lot of effort to construct." Harry grinned, they were all still staring up at the descending 'mega-geth'. "This platform will be able to assemble pre-fabricated metal buildings in less than an hour leaving only the internals to be dealt with."

"That thing has to be the size of the Presidium Tower." Ashley said in amazement.

"I can't believe you manage to build this stuff and keep it from me." Tali grumbled.

"I didn't build it." Harry said defensively. "I only thought of it. The geth are the ones who designed and constructed it."

"This construction platform was created based on Harry's ideas for speeding the re-building of Tuchanka." Lefty explained. "The platform can also act as a defence platform against ground based threats such as thresher maws."

"That's what the krogan are for, Lefty." Grunt said slight displeased.

There was a very slight thud as the platform finally reached the surface.

"It has huge mass effect generators that allow it to handle massive objects without causing them stress." Lefty told them.

"How many geth programs does it take to run that thing?" Tali asked.

"Over forty million geth are required to operate the Construction Platform."

The platform smoothly turned and looked down at them before raising its large five-fingered hand and giving a thumbs up.

"Or one Harry Potter." Lefty continued.

"Aethyta, you have my permission to kick Harry again." Tali scowled at her grinning fiancé.

* * *

><p>"Just remember, if you even <em>think<em> about causing trouble for anyone, the nanites will shut down and you will lose your magic." Harry glared at the assembled goblins who were grinning ecstatically as they accepted the injections from the various geth platforms.

"As far as the Alliance is concerned you fall under the jurisdiction of the Emissary's Free People." Hackett added from Harry's side. "As do all magical beings. The Alliance itself has petitioned the Free People for entry into their society. If that happens then we will take over governance under the their authority."

"I bring word from Overlord Wrex." Grunt stepped forward with purposefully heavy footsteps. "If you step out of line he says he'll come back and personally deal with you."

A majority of the goblins shivered at that thought. The krogan were worse than giants. Not only could they step on them but they had a power that was almost as deadly as magic.

"Can we re-open the bank?" The goblin Harry had left in charge asked.

"That's a complicated issue." Harry grimaced. "People don't hand money and gold to each other these days. I'll try and put you in touch with the Volus though."

* * *

><p>With the re-construction of Earth well in hand, the team took the fleet to Thessia. Their additional task was to pick up Councillor Aethyta so that she could deal with the Asari Republic.<p>

None of them were looking forward to the meeting as so far, every time they had used QEC to contact the matriarchs they had been met with threats and vitriol.

"You had no right to interfere with _our_ mass relays!" Matriarch Irissa spat scathingly.

"It was the decision of the Council, Irissa." Aethyta said dismissively. "A decision that has ensured that Thessia's beauty remains unmarred."

"Irrelevant!" Irissa screeched. "Your actions contravened Citadel conventions and our own rights as a people."

"The Council acted under wartime powers. You should know better than anyone that that gives us unprecedented leeway."

Irissa had been the prime candidate to replace Tevos as the asari councillor after the arrest of the previous Council. But then Benezia had thrown her weight around and had the more practical Aethyta appointed.

"It was a war that didn't affect us. There are always conflicts in the galaxy. The geth and quarians, the turians and humans, all recent conflicts. None of them were used as a petty excuse to attack the Asari Republic." Irissa scowled.

"Well this one decimated Earth, Palaven and many other colonies. The salarians have also been quarantined due to credible evidence that the Union had been indoctrinated."

"Indoctrinated?" She scoffed. "You're still trying to pass off that old Reaper fairy tale?"

***CRACK***

Irissa backed up as she was faced with an enraged Aethyta who was standing sheathed in a biotic aura that was powerful enough to have cracked the ground.

"Listen you little bitch; I just spent several weeks on Earth fighting side-by-side with humans, military _and_ civilian, whilst we tried to protect everyone from being turned into liquids.

"The sky was _filled_ with your '_fairy tales_'." Aethyta spat. "Earth and Palaven are nothing more than planets filled with rubble. Even Tuchanka didn't look this bad after their nuclear winter."

She stepped back and calmed herself. "Now, I don't give a shit about your bruised ego. Maybe if you hadn't been so damned selfish and actually aided the fight against the Reapers, you wouldn't be in this position. The Council has had the quarantine around Thessia lifted. I still have to go with the others to Sur'Kesh to sort out the mess there.

"Don't give us a reason to put the quarantine back." She warned.

* * *

><p>"Stupid idiots. I thought the Matriarchs were foolish for hiding a Prothean Beacon all this time… but messing around with an actual Reaper artefact… after all the data and evidence they were given?" Aethyta scowled as she looked at the curved object that was similar to Object Rho that Doctor Kenson and messed with.<p>

"Agreed." Mordin nodded with a similar expression. "Organics are far too susceptible to indoctrination. Suspect salarians who found it were already indoctrinated when they brought it to Sur'Kesh.

"Can already detect damage to personal QEC."

"Harry, can you shut this thing down?" Shepard asked.

"_Bombarda Maxima!"_

***BOOM***

"I believe he was referring to a less violent method involving accessing its functions." Samara said in amusement as she and the others dropped the barriers they had hastily erected to protect them from Harry's magic blast.

Harry looked at them with a curious smile. "Why would the Reapers install something to turn it off? That would suggest they might be wrong… and we all know they couldn't be wrong." He said with mild sarcasm.

The lab they were standing in was directly under the Salarian Union's main government building. All around them were unconscious scientists and guards.

"I simply cannot conceive of a method of handling this situation." Quietus said in frustration. "The entire Salarian Union has been compromised. We have no idea how far this spreads to the population and the salarian colonies. Not to mention the salarians on other worlds and the Citadel."

"The geth have accessed all travel and logistic records." Lefty informed them. "We have dedicated six servers to projecting the possible spread of infection.

"We do not believe indoctrinated salarians are capable of indoctrinating others and there are no records of other Reaper Artefacts in salarian records."

"This is a damned mess." Aethyta scowled. "The salarians are without a government."

"Couldn't the Council provide an interim government?" Jacob asked.

"The Alliance and the Hierarchy are spread too thin." Anderson shook his head. "And based on Aethyta's meeting with the asari, I wouldn't put them in charge of anything at the moment."

"Which leaves the Free People." Quietus said as he turned to Harry expectantly.

Harry looked at him in shock.

"They're right Harry, only the Free People have the resources and the… morals to handle this." Shepard said softly.

Harry scowled and turned to face away from the group. A few seconds later his eyes lit up and projected a holographic image of Overlord Wrex.

"_Runt! What do you want?"_ The krogan scowled. He still hadn't forgiven Harry for eliminating the Reapers before he got to kill one personally.

"You remember how you told me I'd conquer the galaxy and no one would realise it? These gits want me to take over Sur'Kesh." Harry grumbled.

Wrex just burst out laughing.

* * *

><p>With Sur'Kesh now suffering an invasion of geth to maintain government and order, the Fleet headed back to the Citadel.<p>

There the Council and Harry met with the Free People's Ambassador, Pardot.

"Emissary, we have received several requests from various races for entry into the Free People." He said slightly nervously.

The three Councillors found the batarian's demeanour slightly amusing because when Harry wasn't there the man wouldn't stand for any form of intimidation. They were meeting in the Council Chambers.

"We don't have any protocols for dealing with this."

"The Alliance also wants to join." Harry nodded.

"Emissary, forgive me, but when I say 'several', I mean nearly every species aside from the turians, asari and salarians."

"So… the volus?"

"Yes Emissary."

"The elcor?"

"Yes Emissary."

"The drell?"

"Yes Emissary."

"Th-"

"He said 'everyone', kid. Take it as given that the Ambassador means what he says." Aethyta grumbled. She was well acquainted with Harry's antics. She was usually the victim.

"What exactly do these people think it means to be part of the Free People?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Other than a few basic rules and laws that protect a person's rights, we don't exactly govern each other. The batarians have their own government and so do the quarians."

"That is not technically true." Pardot winced. "Whilst we do tend to have an array of species that represent governments or districts, all of them answer to and submit to the decisions of Emissary's Council."

"I have a council?" Harry asked. After a moment's consideration he asked. "Have I ever met them?"

"Not physically, but you have discussed things with most of them through QEC meetings. Princess Tali also handles several areas."

"Ambassador, what _are_ the benefits for these races becoming members of the Free People?" Quietus asked curiously.

Harry did not like that tone… Quietus seemed far too… interested.

"I admit that none of us are entirely sure if they would benefit in a greater way than they would as Council members." Pardot frowned. "The technology we use is available to anyone who agrees to use it within established regulations. Like the Council, the Free People are sworn to protect and defend each other, just as we did during the Reaper invasion. Several batarian colonies were hit and the Emissary's third fleet was immediately dispatched."

"What regulations on technology are there?" Anderson asked.

"Anyone who accepts nanite technology is required to abide by the Emissary's Laws that protect the rights of the individual. In the event that they break the law the nanites will flush themselves.

"For more advanced technology such as the ships we build, users and owners must pass competency tests and training before being allowed to use them.

"We do not want to find that they have managed to blow themselves up because they did not understand what they are doing."

"What about weapons?" Aethyta asked with a frown. "What are your rules on weapons?"

"Whilst anyone may own a weapon, anyone who keeps one in their home is subject to inspection to ensure it is kept secure and safe so that accidents are prevented.

"Anyone owning a gun is currently required to attending safety training on a yearly basis.

"Only law enforcement and military may carry weapons in public unless the weapon is being taken for repairs, upgrades or servicing."

"What about any military weapon technologies that the Free People develop?" Quietus asked.

"They are used solely by the military." Pardot frowned, not understanding.

"But are the batarians granted access to geth weapons and vice-versa?"

"If they are part of the Free People's military, then yes. Weapon technologies are issued as needed."

"Can we just make a brochure or something?" Harry whined. "I still want to know why all these species want to join us. What is it they are expecting to get?"

"A governing body who will honour its promises." Quietus smirked.

"Emissary, you have to understand that the Council and its races failed miserably when the Reapers arrived." Anderson explained. "In the even of an invasion or attack upon Council affiliated races, the Council is to send in its fleet. If the Council fleet is already engaged then another Council affiliated race is to send in theirs.

"As we all know, the Council fleet is still not recovered from the Battle of the Citadel, the turians and humans were the ones primarily under attack so they couldn't send their fleets… but the volus and elcor also suffered brutal incursions by the Reapers.

"The asari and salarians refused to help."

"In the face of these selfish acts, you managed to send aid to both Palaven and Earth." Quietus continued. "But it didn't end there as the volus and elcor reported ships from the Emissary's Free People running rescue missions."

"In other words, those bitches on Thessia and the eggheads on Sur'Kesh have managed to shoot the Council in the foot." Aethyta said grumpily. "I don't know about the turians, but I have a feeling that the only 'Council' races left are going to be the asari and salarians.

"The rest are going to be clamouring for entry into the Emissary's Free People."

Harry stood there silently, a frown on his face as he stared distantly into the small garden beneath the Petitioner's Platform.

Eventually he looked up at the Councillors. "I suppose this would be a bad time to mention I need to destroy the Citadel?"

* * *

><p>The only reason that Harry made it out of the Council Chambers unscathed was because they thought he was joking.<p>

They eventually went from amused to outraged to disgusted to still trying to decide if they could reasonably allow Harry to destroy the Citadel.

But the bottom line was that the Citadel was essentially the body of the Intelligence responsible for the Reapers and the harvests. It was tainted with the blood of trillions and trillions of innocents.

The place was an abomination and they never realised it until Harry had met the Intelligence.

The problem with just destroying the Citadel was that it was home to so many people, it was the centre of commerce in the galaxy. You couldn't just throw everyone off.

Harry had promised that the geth had begun building something better. He just needed the Council to begin getting people ready to transfer.

"I find you to be an annoying primate who takes perverse pleasure in causing… 'mischief'… but your decision to destroy the Citadel is one I fully support." Javik commented as he stood next to Harry as they looked out at the micro-relay that led to Ilos.

"And I find you to be an arrogant bastard who enjoys mocking people based on their primitive ancestors." Harry returned in the same calm manner. "But I figured you of all people would understand the need to destroy this… monstrosity."

"It ensnared everyone who saw it." Javik continued, both beings ignoring the other's jibes. "We came before you but we were far from the first… I am grateful that we were nearly the last though."

"What do you intend to do, now that the Reapers are dealt with?" Harry asked.

"My people are dead. Their deaths have been avenged… however poorly." He said with a glare at the human. "But my mission was a failure before I even entered stasis. I have nothing left. I will find the graves of my men… and join them." He said proudly.

"Talk about a coward's way out." Harry scoffed.

"Do not judge my ways, ape." Javik sneered.

"Why? Because you might take offence?" Harry sneered right back. "_You_ are an idiot. You keep going on about how your people were amazing, rulers of the galaxy, left behind a legacy for the ages… blah, blah, blah!

"But now that you have a chance to leave a true and lasting imprint of the prothean people, you have decided that you are going to go and off yourself."

"As you said, my people are gone. I have nothing to add to what there already is."

"All there is, is a lot of jumbled images from your beacons that you foolishly left behind thinking that _everyone_ would evolve in the same way as you." Harry snorted. "Honestly, just because your people were all psychometrically gifted… you think the rest of the universe would be?"

"It is a sign of how primitive you are that you have not developed the ability." Javik said dismissively.

"Really? Because I don't know of any prothean accounts of people being able to conjure living creatures from nothing." Harry challenged as he raised his hand and cast an _Avis_. The tiny birds flew around them before flying away over the crowds below them.

"Irrelevant." Javik tried hard not to be impressed. "How would you have done things differently?"

Harry sent a file to Javik's omni-tool and caused it to display.

"That is a digital copy of a physical book that has been left in easily accessible time capsules around the galaxy. They were programmed to open and release a geth platform that will ensure the next cycle was prepared for the Reapers."

"It's a picture book." Javik remarked dryly.

"Humans have a saying: 'A picture is worth a thousand words.'"

* * *

><p>"<em>Fleet Commander to CIC! Fleet Commander to the CIC!"<em>

"It's gong to be one of those days, isn't it?" Shepard sighed as he stood up from the table in the main mess hall of the Overlord.

The room was merely one of many, but it was also the one assigned to the command staff like the Admirals and Captains. Not out of a sense of superiority but just that it meant there were less places to look for them in an emergency.

This particular hall was also assigned to several elite teams of krogan. There was no point grouping together the command staff without giving them protection.

"I'll head back to the Normandy." Ashley sighed. "God knows we are probably going to be fighting."

"Harry, give me a lift to the CIC, please."

Harry just nodded and grabbed the Commander before they vanished.

"We should all probably check our ships and equipment." Miranda said pointedly as she too stood.

"Can't believe that bastard made me a captain." Garrus grumbled as he stood up and headed for his ship, The Sword.

"You are not alone." Grunt scowled as he headed for his own ship, The Gold.

Miranda was actually rather proud of the fact that Shepard had assigned her as the Captain of The Juno. It had been a long journey from naïve Cerberus shill to captain of one of the finest ships in the galaxy.

She was almost willing to forgive Potter for all the grief he caused her.

Almost.

* * *

><p>"Admiral Anderson." Shepard greeted his former commander as he and Harry appeared on the bridge.<p>

He couldn't ask the man for a report as he still had far too much respect for the older human.

"Commander, Emissary." Anderson returned as he stood from his seat. "We managed to track down Sanctuary." He said without preamble.

* * *

><p>Sanctuary.<p>

A place that was spoken of in back alleys and only to humans.

Cerberus took great pains to hide its location as they approached vulnerable humans such as the homeless and poor and offered them a place they touted as the only safe location from Reapers.

The Council, at Harry, Miranda and Shepard's urging had released warnings about what was undoubtedly a Cerberus trap.

They referred to it as 'The Fool's Paradise'.

It still didn't stop people with 'concerns' about aliens running into the waiting maw of Cerberus.

Unfortunately it didn't stop there. Cerberus had used the chaos of the Reaper invasion to kidnap colonists, much like they had on Eden Prime when the team had retrieved Javik.

When asked how the Free People had tracked down Sanctuary, Harry had just stated that he had a mole.

Thane had then left the room after Kasumi started demanding to see it.

* * *

><p>Ever since Shepard had met Harry nearly four years ago, he had worked with a small team of elite fighters. They had specialists in stealth, engineering, brute force and much more.<p>

The team had expanded slightly after a year when Shepard went undercover with Cerberus and managed to subvert some of the Illusive Man's best people.

Now, he had the biggest and most versatile fleet in the galaxy at his beck and call.

He didn't have to take a small team down to the planet Horizon to deal with Sanctuary, he had thousands of geth, krogan, batarians, quarians… and many others, all ready and very willing to serve under the banner of the Emissary.

When you took into account the fact that the Overlord was bigger than the Citadel, and the fact that both the krogan and geth could reproduce like bunnies, you began to get an idea of just how many troops the vessel could carry.

"I still say we should call this ship 'The Overkill'." Ashley muttered as she stood next to Harry on a raised platform.

They were only a step behind Shepard who was about to address the troops of the Overlord.

Over thousand krogan… and that was merely ten percent of the ships total krogan contingent.

"The rules of engagement for this op are simple." Shepard spoke through audio amplification system. "The Krogan Strike Force," and boy did the krogan love a name that contained both the words 'strike' _and_ 'force', "will storm the compound.

"If it shoots at you, kill it.

"If it lays down its weapon then leave them for the second wave.

"If you encounter unarmed individuals ignore them. Your mission is to secure the compound. The second wave will deal with civilians, the injured and anyone who peacefully surrenders.

"Once you have secured the compound set up patrols. Remember not to touch anything you don't recognise. Leave that to the third wave who will be sweeping the area for booby traps."

The second and third waves were made up of geth platforms. All other species would remain on ship until the geth deemed the situation safe. You could destroy a geth platform with the same level of force it took to destroy a krogan, but it was another issue to try and destroy a geth program.

"You have your orders. Move out!"

Shepard's shout was met with a might roar that shook the hanger they were standing in as the main doors opened to reveal that the entire dreadnaught was hovering mere metres off the ground of Horizon.

Even with the superior technology, the thunderous footsteps of a thousand krogan on a war charge was felt throughout the ship.

It actually raised the spirits of the crew.

Except for the remaining krogan warriors who were just jealous.

As the krogan charged past, Shepard led the team away to a nearby Stingray that was prepped for them. They had their own mission to accomplish.

"So what's the plan?" Jennifer asked as Harry piloted them away from the Overlord.

"We land, we hunt, we capture." Shepard said firmly.

"Are you sure we should be taking that kind of risk?" Garrus asked warily. "It would be safer to capture than kill."

"We need to prove to the galaxy that we have him." Shepard said. It was clear he didn't like it anymore than they did. "Quietus has convinced us that he needs to stand trial for his crimes and be sentenced accordingly."

"We're handing him over to the Council?" Jacob asked in disgust.

"Hell no!" Harry said from his seat at the controls. "The Free People will be keeping him under lock and key. And _I _will be the key."

"I still say we should just kill the bastard." Garrus grumbled.

* * *

><p>There target, of course, was Jack Harper, a.k.a. The Illusive Man. Harry's mole had reported Jack's position at a base beneath the planet's northern pole.<p>

The target was buried beneath the icecaps.

Harry was not exactly subtle with his infiltration.

***BOOM***

"Do you think they know we're here?" Grunt asked his brother sarcastically as they watched the combination of fire, snow and smoke fly into the air.

"We should make sure." Tank said as he pulled his shotgun and headed for the airlock. "Coming Pyjack?" He asked without looking back.

"Just don't hold me back." Jennifer smirked as she sprinted past him and out the open airlock. They were still over a hundred feet in the air so she had to use her biotics to break her fall.

"Roll out people." Shepard ordered. "Kasumi, Thane and Harry, get ahead of those three and tag targets. _Do not_ engage the primary target. I don't want to face him without our full attention."

The team had very little trouble moving through the base. Whenever the main bulk of the team managed to catch up with the two krogans and their human comrade, they quickly stomped on the Cerberus idiots.

Only they weren't just dealing with Cerberus agents.

"By the goddess!" Liara gasped as she looked down at the exceptionally tall corpse. It looked like a cross between a wood nymph and a hag. It was a husk, naked like all the others but with breasts and a distended stomach.

"Most distressing." Mordin scowled. "Was indeed an asari." He confirmed their fears.

"Tali, EDI, EVA and Lefty, I want the four of you working on tracking down all information on these new husks. How did Cerberus learn to create them and how many are there." Shepard barked. "Samara, Liara, Miranda and Jacob, stay with them and watch their backs.

"The rest of us will carry on."

"I thought you didn't want us splitting up?" Jennifer asked.

"We need that info and I wouldn't put it past Harper to try and destroy this base with all of us in it." Shepard explained.

The rest of the team moved forward, they encountered human husks, asari husks, turian husks and even something that looked like a cross between a krogan and a turian but was the size of a yagh.

It was obvious that Cerberus had released the husks from their cages and turned them loose on the team.

The team didn't care and put each and every one down as quickly as possible.

They saved their anger for Harper and the human monsters called Cerberus.

They reached a heavily armoured door that would only fit someone like Wrex if he turned sideways and crouched.

Waiting outside were the three advanced scouts.

"He's in there, but I doubt he's alone." Harry warned them.

"Do you know what he might have in there?" Shepard asked.

Harry shook his head. "The room is heavily shielded. I'm guessing that the whole room is sealed and the only method of communication available will be via QEC."

"But you are sure he is in there."

"Oh yes. My mole is in there too. But once the doors closed I lost all communication with him."

"What about your mojo?" Jennifer asked.

"I could probably blast the door open, but I don't know what's inside there. The thing could be rigged with a nuke, set to go off if the seals are breached."

"Can he get out by any other exit?" Kaiden asked.

"One way in, one way out." Harry confirmed. "I have no idea what his end game is."

"You think he had a bargaining chip?" Miranda asked. "He intends to try and cut a deal for his freedom?"

"The man is a coward and an egotist. He is also very cagey. He probably has several contingencies in place."

"Can you apparate in there?" Ashley asked with a thoughtful look.

"No, I don't know the layout or what it looks like so I have nothing to visualise.

"But there are no shields?"

"Not externally."

"I might have an idea." She said with a sheepish look.

* * *

><p>"Intruder!"<p>

Harper turned to where the Phantoms in his protection detail were pointing.

"Where?" Kai Leng demanded as he pulled his sword.

"There… that… floating thing." The female elite Cerberus operative said, clearly unsure about what she was seeing.

"What are you talking about?" Leng demanded. "There is nothing there and there is nothing on sensors." He said as he scanned the area with his omni-tool.

"Yes there is." Another Phantom countered. "But… it looks like a… ghost… like from the old movies."

"Could it be a form of psychological attack?" A Cerberus Commando asked.

"Can't you hear it?" The first Phantom asked. "It says its name is… Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington."

"Oh god!" The other Phantom exclaimed, sounding as though she was about to be sick. "Its head nearly came off."

"Nearly Headless Nick." Harper muttered in remembrance.

Ever since Harry Potter had opened his mouth back on the Citadel when challenging Saren on proving he hadn't been on Eden Prime, Harper had investigated him. Just as he had with Tali, Ashley, Kaiden and everyone else that Shepard seemed to collect.

The stories on the extranet about a young boy with the same name and face as Shepard's 'mascot' (as Harper thought of him at the time) were extraordinary and seemingly coincidental.

But Harper never dismissed anything.

Then the stories and reports of Potter doing impossible feats began circulating… all of it culminating with the very public display of flight when the old Council tried to arrest him for attacking the Hegemony.

From there he was able to ask the right questions. His moles in the Alliance spoke of strange races hidden in the middle of London on Earth.

So yes, Harper knew about Sir Nearly-Headless Nick. He knew everything there was to know about the man who commanded more than half the known galaxy and was personally out for his blood.

"He says he prefers 'Sir Nicholas'." The first Phantom said nervously.

"I don't care how you do it but I want that ghost dead." Harper barked.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Destroyed… I want that ghost _destroyed_!" He corrected himself.

The first Phantom drew her mono-molecular sword and darted forward quickly, slashing at what appeared to be blank space.

She sprang back and through out a warp.

"My sword had no effect but my warp seemed to have some sort of effect… I just don't know if it was a bad one. It's gone now though."

"Gone destroyed or gone as in left the room." Harper demanded.

"Left the room, sir." The second Phantom answered.

"Shit."

The agents were shocked. The Illusive Man never swore and never lost his cool. Not even when they had been rushing to the safety of the room.

There was a sudden violent tearing sound as the door to the room was ripped from its hinges and daylight poured through.

"_Come out peacefully or we will shoot."_

Harper didn't recognise the voice. That was kind of insulting, he expected either Shepard or Potter to deal with him personally.

"Tell Potter to let me go or I'll destroy the Citadel!" Harper shouted back at the amplified voice.

"_What? Speak up or come out."_

"I said tell Potter-"

"_Potter? Potter isn't here."_ The voice interrupted. _"The Emissary had business elsewhere to deal with."_

"You will arrange for safe transport away from here or I will destroy the Citadel!" Harper yelled.

There was a pause.

"_Ok."_

Harper smirked. He knew he had them.

"_Destroy away."_

"What?" He wasn't expecting that response. He assumed the man he was talking to was a seasoned negotiator. Telling a hostage taker to kill a hostage was not on the approved list of tactics.

"_I told you already, you have to speak up!"_ The voice sounded exasperated. _"Look, you've got two minutes before I send in some rather nasty ordinance that will probably kill you _if_ you are lucky."_

The other agents exchanged nervous looks.

"I'm not bluffing!" Harper shouted. "I _will_ destroy the Citadel!"

"_And I said go for it. The Citadel has been vacated. It's due for demolition soon anyway."_ The voice was getting annoyed.

So was Harper.

"One of you Phantoms take a look outside. See if you can find a way to sabotage their setup." Harper ordered. "Leng, you will need to eliminate their heavy arms."

Kai Leng just nodded as he drew his sword.

Cautiously the second Phantom moved towards the door as she activated her cloak.

Harper and his goons waited a good ninety seconds before the Phantom reappeared in front of them.

"It's bad." She announced.

"How bad? Details." Leng demanded.

"Shepard and his entire team are out there barring Krios, Goto and Potter."

"They are probably staying hidden in case we actually fight them." Harper mused.

"No, Potter is standing behind you, Krios has the other Phantom marked and Goto is right here." The Phantom gestured to herself. "Gotcha!" The voice said with a grin.

"Open fi-urgk!" Harper's order was cut off as he was spun around and hoisted off the ground by a hand around his throat.

"I beg you. Do not force me to kill you." Came Thane's voice as he deactivated his cloak to show he had a mono-molecular sword at the second Phantom's throat.

"Leeeng!" Harper gasped.

"I'm afraid that Mr. Leng will be most unhelpful at the moment." Harry said as he deactivated his own cloak. "His artificial implants have been locked and he can't move.

"Honestly, Jack." He said disappointedly. "Sending a man with a mass of computers in him to kill people who are protected by digital life forms? We had him bugged since he kidnapped my girls. You didn't _really_ think I let him escape so easily, did you?

"I guess it just goes to show how big your ego is."

Harper opened his mouth but nothing came out.

"Cat got your tongue, Jack?" Harry smirked. "Just like your old friend Udina?"

* * *

><p>It had taken several days to extract the room as a whole from the base at Horizon.<p>

The geth had immediately gotten to work inscribing time runes on the outside to room so that it appeared no time had passed for the occupants of the room.

As per Ashley's suggestion they had then used the Overlord to transport the room to Scotland, Earth, where Harry had asked Sir Nicholas to do a bit of recon for them.

He had quickly returned after less than a minute.

"My Lord!" The old fifteenth century ghost of a nobleman exclaimed as he rushed out. "Those biotics feel a _lot_ different to magic." He slowed his floating pace as he reached Harry.

"Good different or bad different?" Harry asked as they stood on the open grounds of Hogwarts.

"Hard to say." Nicholas mused. "I certainly wasn't going to wait around to find out. It would have made the whole point of my going in there redundant if they managed to kill me."

"Speaking of the point… what can you tell us about what is in there?" Harry asked.

"There is one man with no armour. He appears to be wearing a suit, much like those worn during the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century."

"That would be Jack Harper." Shepard told him. "He's our main target."

"Interesting. He appeared to be unarmed." Nick frowned. "There was a rather dangerous man who looked to be from the Orient. He was garbed in all black and carried one of those unusual Oriental swords."

"Kai Leng." Harry smirked. "I can handle him easily enough."

"He took you out the last time." Kaiden warned.

Harry's smirk just became more confident.

"Harry… what did you do?" Tali asked slowly. She knew that look on her fiancé's face.

"Kasumi?"

"He _let_ Leng go." Kasumi shrugged. "He swore myself and the geth to secrecy. He then had the geth upload themselves into Leng's implants and used his magic to let Leng think he had managed to escape on his own."

"This Kai Leng is your 'mole'?" Thane asked.

"Unwitting, but yes." Harry nodded. "He's been transmitting his position since he 'escaped'. That is how we knew where Sanctuary and Harper were."

"_Contact!"_ Came Garrus' whispered alert from his sniper position.

Everyone turned with their weapons out.

"_There is a cloaked Phantom exiting the door."_

"I see them." Harry confirmed. "I'll go and nab her."

Before anyone could say anything, Harry vanished.

He reappeared seconds later with the Phantom over his shoulder.

"Ow!" Harry rubbed the back of his head as he pouted at Ashley.

"Don't go running off like that!" She snapped. She still considered her role as Harry's minder her primary mission.

"Harry, can you get any info out of her?" Shepard brought them back to the task at hand.

Harry nodded and dropped the body on the floor before he removed the helmet.

The woman beneath the mask was probably very beautiful at one point. But her head had been shaved and she looked like all the other Cerberus operatives they had encountered since Mar. She had synthetics lacing throughout her skin, most of it blue and grey.

Harry ignored all this and lifted her eyelids. Unfortunately he came across a problem. "These are cybernetic eyes." He frowned. "I can't use my magic to get into her mind like this."

"We need a new plan then." Kaiden grimaced. "I hate you Harry."

"What? Why? I didn't do anything!" Harry said defensively.

"You just corrupt us with your way of thinking." Kaiden retorted. "Kasumi, you get to go back under cover."

* * *

><p>Getting the Cerberus operative out of the Phantom suit and Kasumi into it was not easy. Fortunately, Harry had set up a special portable room a few metres away that ran at a different rate of time. So they didn't have to waste too much time.<p>

After that, Thane and Harry had followed the suited Kasumi through the door and dealt with the Harper and his cronies.

Instead of being handed over to the Alliance or the Council. Harry had ordered Harper and his people to be thrown into the deepest dungeons of Hogwarts.

He would be guarded day and night by a bunch of bloodthirsty goblins who took great pleasure in threatening their charges with their newly returned magic.

Harry had made them promise not to actually hurt them… but hadn't gotten an oath.

The Harper and his people always looked physically fine when he checked on them, but they had an expression of defeat and terror.

The goblins just had innocent expressions.

Harry said nothing.

"Everything seems to running smoothly now." Shepard said in relief as he slumped into the sofa in Harry's Tent on the Utah. He still hadn't bothered to move it and he had no intention of doing so.

"Nothing _ever_ goes smoothly for long." Harry sulked. "Sooner or later there will be a new faction of idiots who will want to do things their way and it _won't_ include the democratic process."

"The Emissary's Free People aren't exactly democratic, Master." Shiala pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah… because they don't let _me_ vote." Harry snarked. "And I'm too lazy to start my own faction of idiots to do things my way."

"You always complain about being the head of the Free People, but you never actually have to do anything." Ashley frowned. "You get to have them make all these cool ships and-" She paused as he omni-tool lit up and a long list of text started to scroll. "What's this?"

"A list of things I have to deal with…_today_." Harry answered.

"Negotiate breeding schedules between the krogan clans?" Shepard asked worriedly as he looked over his girlfriend's shoulder.

"The females want more babies… the males are beginning to go nuts." Harry explained. "As a krogan who is _not_ a krogan, they asked me to mediate."

"When are you going to do handle that? It is scheduled for… ten minutes ago?" Ashley pointed out.

"I now have four synthetic copies of myself around the galaxy." Harry sighed. "Nobody seems to care they aren't my physical self as long as I am the one controlling it."

"Well, with nothing looming on the horizon and plenty of bodies willing to deal with any fires that might crop up, I have ordered the fleet back to Rannoch." Shepard smiled.

"Cool, I could use a vacation." Kasumi said as she stretched like a cat.

"Well, your vacation will have to wait. Our primary goal will be getting Harry and Tali to the altar." Shepard said happily. "They've waited long enough and we can all be present for it."

Shepard and Harry winced as Kasumi squealed in excitement. "I have to borrow the Tiger-Lilly." She told Shiala firmly. "I know where I can steal the _best_ bridesmaid dresses."

Shepard sighed.

He could handle Harry, Reapers, Cerberus and anything else the galaxy threw at him… but he still couldn't figure out women.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

So you are probably wondering why I am posting the rest of this at once.

Short answer: Something very bad just happened to me.

Long answer: I, a human suffering from agoraphobia, stress and depression, tried to do a good thing by warning someone that they van door was open... the universe decided to reward me by locking me out of my house. I guess I should leave good deeds to those capable of doing them.

Anyway, as a result I find I am too stressed to deal with idiots who like to complain about EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER of my story. These are people who haven't posted a single piece of work and despite the fact that don't appear to like my story, they come back and write derogatory things about it. Not constructive criticism.

This is why the world is so screwed up. Because idiots are allowed to inflict themselves on others.

Anyway, I thought I would address a few points about the story:

1: Magic didn't die, the genetics required to use it were simply destroyed or altered due to the affects of pure Eezo, Dark Energy and all the other stuff that popped out of Pandora's little box when humanity went exploring. I wasn't sure if that would be clear.

2: The gibberish messages that the crew left on message boards was literally that: Gibberish. They didn't need message boards they had QEC. The gibberish was just a red herring for Cerberus.

3: Harry being 'god-like'... he had over powered biotics, a computer in his head and common sense. Common sense doesn't make us god like... but in the world of entertainment it probably seems like it. His magic was rarely used. His biotics were rarely used. The thing he did use was his connection with the geth to create new ways, methods and tools.

4: My take on the ending and the Catalyst... lets face it, the final boss battle was made up of a long and arduous walk down a boring corridor to a place where you had a long and (if your paragon/renegade points were low enough) often useless conversation with a mad man before having a long and useless conversation with a computer. After this you had three options which really did nothing but ensured that your character wouldn't be in a sequel.

So my version skipped the long walks. We skipped the mad man. And we pointed out the truth of the situation to the computer. And hopefully we had some fun on the way.

5: This story was marked as Humour/Adventure. It was not marked as a 'Realistic Take on the Intricately Weaved Worlds of Mass Effect and Harry Potter'. This was made clear in my very first authors note. The only thing you have achieved by getting this far and complaining that it is wrong, over powered, 'gary-stu', etc... is that you have a limited understanding of the English language.

FINALLY:

To those of you who enjoyed this story. I am glad. The best reviews I get are the ones where people tell me they physically laughed. Especially if I managed to get you embarrassed or in trouble as a result!

You are the people I share my work with. I write for myself. I share to make others laugh.

If you want another laugh then in the next few days I will post my other finished work: Harry Five-0.

Yes, it is Harry Potter/H50. Yes it will be Harry/Kono.

But I warn you now: Read the authors notes before you start as I don't want to see people complaining because: 'That's not how the law works.'

Otherwise... see you in a bit.


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